The Hogwarts Chronicles Volume 2
by PyroQueenOfFire
Summary: Lana and Scott have now been joined by their younger sister, Chelsea, and things are about to rock their worlds. With a death and new knowledge of just what Voldemort is capable of...Lana still has to deal with feelings and boys.
1. A New Year Brings New Crushes

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Okay, so here is Volume Two!**

**You get to learn more about Lana as she learns more about herself.**

**You'll also get to see foreshadowing into her ultimate relationship at the very end of it all.**

**=P**

****

My summer after my first year at Hogwarts was so much fun. I kept in contact with Hermione Granger most out of all people, and with Oliver Wood, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. I had sent letters to Harry Potter, another of my best friends, but he hadn't returned any of them. Then my parents had to go somewhere, so they sent my sister, Chelsea, and my brother, Scott, and I to Ron's house for the rest of the summer.

My father worked for the Ministry, and my mom did as well. Sometimes they were really weird, and wouldn't tell me what was going on, but not everything is meant for you to know, right? I had just found out that I was a witch last year, and I had had to move from America to Europe in a month. Then I found out crazy things about my life, and even helped Harry to fight Voldemort, the powerful Dark Wizard that was out to kill Mudbloods, and anyone who wasn't his follower.

When we got to the Weasleys, I marveled at it. It was amazing. The pots and pans moved on their own. Now my father was a wizard, and my mother was a witch, but we lived in a normal Muggle, or non-magical, home. All that summer I spent with Ron and his family, and Ginny, Ron's younger sister, bonded with Chelsea easily. Scott was hanging out with Fred and George, Ron's older twin brothers, and I was a little jealous, but thrilled nonetheless because I could flirt with them and pretend that I had to speak to my brother about something. I must admit that I was still hiding the fact that Draco Malfoy and I were on friendly terms from everyone, and that I had the slightest crush on Fred and George Weasley.

"So, Ron, where do you suppose Ginny and Chelsea went?" I asked him.

Ron shrugged. "Probably up in Ginny's room talking about Harry again."

I snickered. Ginny Weasley had had a crush on Harry since she had met him last year at the train station. It was quite funny, yet terribly annoying because she wouldn't stop talking about him.

"Well, at least she's not talking to _us_ about him." I told him.

He smiled, and then Fred walked into the kitchen. I smiled.

"Hi, Fred." I blushed.

Fred smiled at me. "Hello, Lana. What are you and Ron up to?"

"What is there to do?" I asked.

George laughed as he came into the room. "Good question."

I blushed again. Yeah, I know. It was quite pathetic to know which was which after only a few days at the beginning of the summer. It was quite easy to tell them apart now, and I don't think that I'll ever forget how.

"Down, Lanni." Scott teased.

I stuck my tongue out at him and then remembered who was in the room with me—Fred and George! How could I be anything other than a lady around them? Well actually, it was very easy. I still had the biggest crush on Oliver Wood, and Fred and George mentioned it every once in a while, having apparently overheard the conversation that Hermione Granger and I had had one night in the Commons last year. Then there was Draco Malfoy. He and I had had a thing since the first day I set foot in the magical world. Then I had spent Christmas with his family last year, and my own, but no one was _EVER_ to know about it. Only Hermione and Chelsea did, but I trusted them to keep my secret, Hermione being my best friend, and Chelsea being my younger sister. I kept the locket that he had given me hidden, but always around my neck.

You see Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were rivals. Bitter rivals. They absolutely loathed each other, but I had gotten on Draco's good side, even though he was in Slytherin—well Scott was in Slytherin too, and he was awesome—and Hermione, Ron, Harry, and I were in Gryffindor. Hermione and I had come up with some pretty believable stories to hide the fact that Draco and I had snuck out a few times to meet up with one another. Even Dumbledore didn't know.

Which brings me to another fact. Headmaster and Professor Albus Dumbledore, was my uncle. I had found that out last year when I had gotten a letter telling me that I was to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was thrilled and scared, because I moved from New York City, New York, in America, to London. But I fit in, and was the favorite of my teachers, and really good at picking up spells. I even had the highest final exam scores of all the First Years last year…and since Hogwarts was created.

"So, Fred and George, what do you suggest for fun around here?" I asked.

They smiled at me and I blushed again.

"Well, we could practice Quidditch out front." Fred suggested.

"Or you could help us come up with great tricks to play on teachers this coming year." George offered.

I beamed. Alone time with Fred and George? I jumped at it. Well wait a moment…Scott would be with them…I could take care of that though…

"I could help you guys come up with tricks." I said.

"Or you could help Ginny and I cook, while Chelsea sets the table." Mrs. Weasley offered.

I smiled and turned around to her. She had killed my plans to spend time with Fred and George—and my brother. Oh well. I suppose as a guest I had to help with housework, so there was no use trying to get out of it. See, Mrs. Weasley was one of my mother's good friends. They had known each other since school together, and our fathers knew each other too. Where my parents were off to this summer, I hadn't the foggiest clue, and wouldn't know until later on.

"Maybe later." The twins offered.

"Of course." I told them.

"Maybe later." Scott mocked, and I hit him lightly in the shoulder with my fist.

****

After dinner that night, I ran upstairs and lay on the floor in my sleeping bag while Ginny and Chelsea shared Ginny's bed.

"You were too obvious." Ginny told me.

"What?" I asked.

"You were blushing again." Chelsea said.

I turned over and looked up at them.

"Whatever do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"We're girls too you know, we can tell when you like someone." Chelsea said.

I blushed. "But…I was that obvious?"

Ginny shook her head. "Not to them, just to us. I bet they would be thrilled to know though…."

I threw my pillow at her. "Don't you dare!" I cried.

Chelsea got up and ran to the door. "Fred! George! Come in here! Lana's got something to say!"

Luckily, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were outside at that moment and had not heard the screaming down the hall. Fred and George came to the door, and I blushed feverishly. They smiled.

"What did you need to say, Lana?" They asked.

"Well…I…well…" I began.

"She's come up with a prank for you guys to play on the teachers this year." Chelsea said quickly.

They beamed. "Really?"

I sat up. "Yes…but you'll need Peeves for it."

They thanked me, and told me to tell them all about it tomorrow morning. I just smiled, and then glared at Ginny and Chelsea when they left.

"Now I actually have to come up with something. Thanks a lot!" I said.

Ginny tossed me back my pillow, and I turned over away from them. If they had actually told Fred and George about my little crush, then I wouldn't be able to stay in this house for very much longer—of course, neither would they when Scott knew—he's _very_ protective.

****

The next morning, I got up and went downstairs to find Ron. I had to let him know everything. I needed him to help me come up with a prank. I needed him to kill our sisters for me.

When I got to the top of the stairs, however, I saw Fred and George with their feet propped up on the table, and Scott was leaning back in a chair. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were nowhere to be seen. I just gazed at them for a moment, and then, afraid of being seen, I stood up straight, and went to Ron's room. I knocked on the door, and he told me to come in.

"Ron…" I began.

Then I turned around and started laughing. Ron was putting his shirt on. I just excused myself, and went down stairs, stunned. Ron without his shirt. Goodness. I don't know if that image will ever go away. Fred and George saw my face and smiled.

"What happened to you?" Fred asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't say a word. Then Ron came bounding down the stairs apologizing, saying that he thought I was his Mum. I just sat down as Scott, Fred and George laughed.

"I was changing and well, I told her to come in. She used Mum's knock." Ron protested.

I just sat there staring at the table. Then Mrs. Weasley came in from the garden.

"Will you excuse me?" I finally said.

I got up and went out the back door. I sat in the garden under a tree, and just stared at the garden. Just stared at the garden. Just sat there and stared at the garden. Then George came out and sat next to me.

"Are you going to be all right? You look like you're in shock." He told me.

"Not in shock, just not, not in shock." I said.

He laughed. "That makes no sense."

I smiled. "I mean, took me by surprise, not a big deal, I just needed air."

Ron came out just as I looked into George's eyes.

"Sorry about that, Lana." He said.

George got up and left. I smiled at Ron and stood up.

"It's fine. I was just surprised. You know me. I have to come out and sit under trees." I told him.

Ron smiled, and walked me back inside. When we got there, I saw a cake with candles on it. I beamed. It said, 'Happy Birthday Lana' on it, in blue icing.

"Thank you all so much!" I exclaimed, and hugged them all one by one, hugging Fred and George the longest, and Percy the shortest.

We had cake, and then I carefully saved a piece for Harry, knowing that Ron, Scott, Fred, and George were planning on getting Harry out of the Dursley's house that night. I was going to go with them, but they didn't know that yet.

****

That night, I snuck out into the back seat of the old blue car that Mr. Weasley had enchanted to fly, and hid. Then I heard voices, and Ron, Scott, Fred, and George got into the car, Fred into the drivers seat. I waited until we were up in the air, about halfway to Harry's house, before I sprang up behind them.

"Hi, guys!" I said.

Ron and George looked back and jumped at my voice, and Fred just laughed—Scott too come to think of it.

"I knew you were there the whole time." Fred told me.

"You're a liar." I said.

"I saw you climb in through the trunk." He said.

Well, I had climbed in through the trunk, so I suppose he had seen me.

"Lucky guess." I told him.

"I knew you weren't in bed." Scott said.

"Shut-up. You always know—I wasn't surprised." I scowled.

"Come on Lanni, you're face might freeze that way." Scott laughed, and I punched his shoulder lightly again.

We got to Harry's house, and parked the car outside his window. We attached a chain to it and pulled off the bars, and then hefted Harry and his belongings into the car. We smiled as we drove away.

"Harry, why haven't you written back?" I asked him as we drove back to the Weasley's.

"Well, this house Elf named Dobby stole all of my letters and hid them from me. He doesn't want me to go back to Hogwarts." Harry said.

Dobby? It couldn't be the same house Elf that I had met at Draco Malfoy's house last Christmas could it?

"Strange." I finally said.

"I'm so glad to see you all!" Harry exclaimed, hugging me since I was the only one in the back seat with him—okay so Scott was there too, but why hug him?

I hugged him back. "Well we're glad to see you. You know, if I ever see one of the Dursleys, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. Speaking of pieces…"

I handed him the wrapped up piece of birthday cake.

"Happy Birthday yesterday, Lana." Harry told me.

I smiled. "It would have been better with you and Hermione there."

Harry smiled, and then we landed and parked the car outside the Weasley's house, and crept inside. We thought that we had gotten away with it, when we heard Mrs. Weasley's voice.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!? Beds empty. No note. No car. You could have died! You could have been seen!" She screamed. "Of course I don't blame you Harry. You never asked them to go gallivanting off to get you. But Scott…Lana…"

"Lana was dragged along." Fred said.

"She tried to stop us." George added.

"Kept saying how you'd worry."

"Wanted us to stay and stop being so reckless."

"We had to go and get Harry."

"They were starving him."

"Lana was taking up our time."

"You should have heard her kicking and screaming all the way there."

I blushed. Fred and George were actually sticking up for me. Harry seemed to believe them though, and couldn't look at me. Mrs. Weasley beamed.

"Well, you should all learn from Lana." Mrs. Weasley smiled at me.

"Scott's a bad egg." I shrugged.

Scott nodded. "It's true."

"He was eager to come along with us and we didn't stop him." Ron said.

"Look, I'm really sorry and it won't happen again." Scott told Mrs. Weasley, who believed him, but he was crossing his fingers behind his back.

I looked outside. "Morning now. Want me to help you make breakfast, Mrs. Weasley?"

Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "You and Harry should go up and get some sleep. Long night I would guess." She turned to Ron, Fred, Scott, and George. "You four go de-gnome the garden! What will your mother say?" Mrs. Weasley asked Scott.

"Well…she'll be a little angry…" Scott admitted.

It was true, but Dad on the other hand would be very proud.

"I've never seen a de-gnoming before. I think I'll stick it out with Ron." Harry said.

"Same here." I told them.

When Mrs. Weasley took out a Gilderoy Lockhart book on how to de-gnome a garden, however, I felt nauseous. I loathed Gilderoy Lockhart. He was this big shot wizard that came out of nowhere, and all the women, well my sister and I not included, loved him. Just then, Ginny and Chelsea showed up. Ginny took one look at Harry and squeaked and ran away.

"Ginny." Ron said.

"And this is my little sister, Chelsea." I told Harry.

Chelsea and Harry shook hands.

"Pleasure." Chelsea said, and then she bounded up the stairs after Ginny.

"Ginny has been talking about you all summer." Ron told Harry.

"Quite annoying, actually." I admitted.

"Bit of a headache." Scott added.

"Yes, she has a crush on you." George said.

"Probably wants your autograph." Fred added.

Mrs. Weasley shot Fred a dirty look, and Fred looked at his plate. I just snickered. After we ate, we went and de-gnomed the garden, and I told Harry that I actually snuck into the back of the car so that I could be there when we rescued him, and then Mr. Weasley came home. I smiled and waved at him, and he waved back.

"Good to see you Lana!" He called.

"Your sons took out your car last night to get Harry!" Mrs. Weasley told her husband.

"Did they?" Mr. Weasley asked. "Harry who?"

I pointed to Harry, who was standing next to me, and then I pointed to my forehead.

"Good Lord! It can't be Harry Potter!" Mr. Weasley exclaimed. "Very pleased to meet you." He told Harry.

"YOU'RE CHILDREN AND SCOTT FLEW THAT CAR OUT TO HARRY'S HOUSE AND BACK!!! THEN THEY DRAGGED POOR LANA WITH THEM!!!" Mrs. Weasley yelled.

"Really? How did it go?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Mrs. Weasley smacked him.

"I mean that was very wrong boys. Very wrong indeed." Then he winked at me, obviously knowing full well that I had gone out with them on purpose.


	2. Girl Talk

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**I just want to point out that Lana is based off of my reactions while I was reading the first books, and the characters she likes and dislikes are based off of my likes and dislikes, with of course embellishes because she isn't entirely me at all.**

**Her dislikes and likes will also vary, but one character she will always be fond of because I have loved him since Book One, is Snape.**

**She also has a past she won't know fully for a little bit longer.**

**Okay, so here's more.**

**=P**

****

When we all awoke the next morning, Mrs. Weasley came and gave us all our lists for the next school year. Even Chelsea, Scott, Harry's and my letters were in the mix. And there were so many books to buy! Some of which, well all of which pretty much, I wanted to burn:

**SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL RECQUIRE:**

_**The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2**_

**By Miranda Goshawk**

_**Break with a Banshee **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

_**Gadding with Ghouls **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

_**Holidays with Hags **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

_**Travels with Trolls **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

_**Voyages with Vampires **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

_**Wandering with Werewolves **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

_**Year with the Yeti **_**by Gilderoy Lockhart**

After sighing, and kicking myself mentally, Percy came in the room for breakfast. I felt my forehead, and starting looking faint.

"Good day everyone!" Percy said briskly. "Lovely day!"

"I think I feel kind of sick." I said. "I need to go and lay down."

I excused myself for a moment, and then I heard, Scott, Fred, George, Ron, and Harry saying that they wanted to check on me. I sat in my room, and they opened the door.

"Nice one!" Fred told me.

Harry was very confused.

"Lana hates Percy." George explained.

"She always has some excuse to leave the room. They really don't get along." Ron said.

"I believe that Percy made her angry." Scott explained.

I smiled. "Percy and I had a little misunderstanding when I first arrived."

"He made fun of her cat." Ron said.

"Yes, and then when I made fun of his owl, he went on about how I'm not as smart as him because I don't have the right genes. So I hit him." I told Harry.

Harry laughed. "I suppose that means that Percy being a Prefect bothers you too?"

I nodded. "I don't care how well he follows the rules. Percy is a stuck up little ingrate that I kind of want to hit right now."

Percy opened the door and smiled. "I'd like to see you try it."

I stood up. "Oh, would you? Because I'm perfectly capable of going through with it." I balled my hands into fists.

"I'll tell Mum." Percy threatened.

Fred laughed. "No you won't. She would never believe that Lana hit you."

"Yeah, and you'd be admitting that you're not as strong as a Second Year girl." George added.

"Why wouldn't she believe me?" Percy asked. "I'm her favorite child."

"Yes, but Lana helped Harry defeat You-Know-Who last year, and Mum loves her like a daughter." Ron told him.

"Not to mention you've always been something of a git." Scott shrugged.

Percy scowled and left the room. I calmed down a bit. If he had let me do it, I would have popped him one.

"You see Harry, I hate Percy like you hate Draco." I told him.

****

We ate some breakfast on Wednesday morning, and went to go and buy our school supplies. Chelsea, Scott and I stood as Fred and George went first by Floo powder. Then I insisted that Chelsea, Scott and I go next. When we got there, Chelsea looked around. She was wowed.

"I'll show you around." Fred offered Chelsea.

"That's sweet of you Fred. Bye Fred. Bye Matty. Bye George!" I told him.

Chelsea just snickered to herself, and I went off wandering around the shops. I ended up running into Hermione. We squealed slightly, and hugged each other.

"It's so good to see you!" I said.

"I know! I'm so glad that you kept in contact!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Of course I would keep in touch. You're my best friend!"

Hermione smiled. "And you're mine."

"Oh, we rescued Harry from the Dursleys, and he's with Ron and his family now."

Hermione smiled. "That's great!"

"Yes, um, I wanted to go and look in that shop." I said, pointing to a dark shop at the other end of Diagon Alley, where it became Knockturn Alley.

Hermione shuddered. "I wouldn't advise it, but you can handle yourself."

I smiled. "I just want to look at it."

"Well, I'm going to go and find Harry."

I waved at her, and walked over to the dark shop. I peered into the shop, and saw Draco. I opened the front door to the shop a crack to hear part of the conversation with his father.

"Though if his grades don't pick up that may indeed be all he is fit for…" Mr. Malfoy was saying.

"It's not my fault. The teachers all have favorites, that Hermione Granger, and of course Lana…" Draco said.

I beamed, and then shut the door. That was all that I needed to see. I walked away and kind of window shopped for a bit, when Ron came running toward me.

"Have you seen Harry?" Ron asked me.

I shook my head. "I thought he was with you guys."

"Well, no. He disappeared." Ron said.

"Well, I'll look around here." I promised.

****

I turned back to go look in the shop again. This time, though, I ran right into Draco, knocking him over and falling on top of him. I smiled, and so did he.

"Lana…" He said.

I blushed. "Hey, Draco."

Mr. Malfoy laughed. "Either of you need help getting up, or would you just like to stay there?"

"It's actually quite comfortable dad." Draco laughed.

I blushed again. "Very funny, Draco."

"Lanni!" I heard a surprised Scott say. "Would you please get up off the ground?"

"Actually, I'm not on the ground so I very well can't get off of it." I told him.

Scott frowned. "Will you please get off of Mr. Malfoy?"

"Mr. Malfoy's standing over there, and oh! Be careful, your face might freeze like that." I said smiling—Lana: 1, Scott: 0—and not even past breakfast.

"Please get up, Lanni." Scott said.

Mr. Malfoy left us alone, and I stood up, and held out my hand to help Draco up. He took it, and then we stood there for a moment, looking at each other. Then I smiled, and Draco brushed my hair out of my eyes. He smiled, and stroked my cheek with his fingertips.

I smiled too. Draco was a lot cuter than he had been last year. Taller, deeper voice, same Gray eyes. He had definitely gone through puberty. Same blonde hair, and same Slytherin robes, but he was so cute! All right, let's get back on track.

"LANA!" Scott cried. "I think it's time we left now." He said, taking my hand.

"I'm looking for Harry." I told Draco. "Seen him anywhere?"

Draco shook his head. I'd ruined our moment by asking about Harry—well actually Scott had ruined our moment first. Too bad, I suppose.

"Did Potter get lost?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "Had an accident with Floo powder as I hear it. I almost did too." I added as he started to laugh.

"Oh."

I smiled. For some reason, it felt good that he was whipped. I mean, I say something, and he makes sure that whatever he says back to me, doesn't hurt my feelings; it was great. Then I got a brilliant idea.

"Hey, Draco, I think I came up with a way for you and I to hang out more this year." I said slowly.

"What?" Scott asked.

Draco smiled. "How?"

"Well, I walked into the shop in Knockturn Alley earlier, and overheard that you needed help with your grades…well I could tutor you." I offered.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked me.

I blushed. "I promise that we would work."

Draco pouted slightly. "Oh. Sad."

"All right, it's time to go!" Scott was saying angrily.

"I need a yes or a no." I told him.

"Draco!" His father called. "Why don't you come with me into the bookstore?"

"Coming!" Draco told his father.

"I guess I'll see you on the train." I said.

"You're not going into the bookstore?" Draco asked.

I shook my head. "To see Lockhart? As if! I hate that guy!"

Draco smiled, and kissed my cheek. I blushed and then couldn't help but smile back.

"We'll talk about tutoring on the train." He told me.

I just smiled, speechless.

"Yeah, no." Scott told him, but Draco wasn't listening, and frankly, neither was I.

"Lana! How could you let him do that?" Scott asked.

"Do what?" I asked.

"HE KISSED YOU!" Scott cried.

"On the cheek, doofus. Now let me go!" I said, and I dropped hands with my dear, sweet, protective, idiotic, brother.

Then I saw Fred and George coming towards me. I was excited because my year was going to be wonderful. Fred, George, Oliver, Quidditch, Draco, Uncle Albus, Hermione, Ron, Harry, my older brother, my little sister, Arwen. This year was going to be absolutely wonderful!

"Not in there seeing Lockhart?" Fred asked.

I shook my head. "Hate him."

George laughed. "Well you're the intelligent one here."

"What about me?" Chelsea asked.

I smiled. "You're intelligent too. So Chelsea, how did your wand picking go?"

"Oh it went okay except that…I think I gave Mr. Ollivander a concussion." She replied.

"You did what?!?" I asked scandalized.

"Well the first wand he gave me, I waved it, and it knocked a really large book off a shelf and it hit him in the head. I didn't mean it!" She said with one glance at me.

I was speechless. So I thought the twins would make it all better. Is that a crime? I smiled at Fred, who looked a little different. He was smiling at me funny. I don't know how to explain it. Hey, just pointing it out. Mrs. Weasley was calling for Fred and George, who went back into the shop. Scott, Chelsea and I stayed outside rather contently.

****

I had heard later that Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley had gotten into a fight in the bookstore. I gulped when Fred and George were talking about it. After we said goodbye to Hermione and her parents, we went back to the Weasley's, and packed for tomorrow, because we would be heading out for Hogwarts. I was excited, because I would be seeing Uncle Albus again.

"I can't wait until tomorrow." I told Ginny and Chelsea.

They smiled.

"Are you sure you don't just want to go back so that you can hit on Fred and George without parents around?" Ginny asked.

I blushed. "Goodness, no. I'm just excited to see Uncle Albus again, and Oliver."

Ginny made a whistling noise. "Oliver? Oliver Wood?"

I nodded.

"Lana's liked him since she met him last year. The first owl that she sent to me was about his eyes and smile. He's a 6th Year this year." Chelsea told Ginny.

I blushed.

"You know Oliver Wood?" Ginny asked.

"I'm a Gryffindor Chaser." I told her.

"She gets to play with Harry." Chelsea said.

At that name, Ginny blushed.

I changed the subject. "Oliver is the kindest, sweetest, most caring, cutest, most talented boy…"

"And has the most gorgeous smile and stunning eyes." Fred said slowly.

I whirled around. I was blushing feverishly, and Ginny and Chelsea were laughing.

"So what kinds of things do you say about us?" George asked.

I could have died. How did they know? I looked at Ginny and Chelsea who just shook their heads. Well then who…Ron!

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Come on, Lana…Ron told us all about it." Fred said.

That's why he had been smiling at me funny! Ron had told him that I had a crush on him and George! Great…maybe my year wasn't going to be so wonderful after all. I didn't have to answer though, because Mrs. Weasley called for them, and I snuggled into my sleeping bag. Tomorrow we headed out on the train.


	3. We Made it to Hogwarts

I got up the next morning, ate breakfast by myself, and then sat out by the old blue car that we had taken to go and rescue Harry in. I was trying to hide from Fred and George. Too bad that it didn't work like that.

"Hey, Lana." Fred said.

I whirled around, and stood up.

"Hi." I told him.

"We saw that you weren't in your room." George said.

"Yeah…well…I need to go see Ron." I ran off towards the house, and ran into Mr. Weasley.

"Well, good morning Lana!" Mr. Weasley hugged me, and I hugged him back.

"Good morning, Mr. Weasley! I was just taking a short brisk walk. Nothing like fresh air to start a new school year!" I told him.

He smiled. "I like your attitude, Lana."

I beamed, and then took a quick look at Fred and George, and ran inside and upstairs to Ron's room. I knocked on the door, and when Ron opened it, he tried to shut the door, but I pushed it open.

"Ron…Ron…Ron." I said.

Ron grabbed Scabbers, and held him to him.

"Please don't hurt me." Ron said.

"Hurt you? Why would I hurt you?"

Ron smiled. "Really?"

I glared at him. "I won't hurt you, but I will get you back…mark me."

Okay. I felt bad, so I gave him a hug and apologized.

"Ron, I'm sorry, I just…it was surprising. I mean, it's a little crush, and now Fred and George are acting weird, and there's this whole…" I stopped and shook my head.

I almost let it go that I was thinking of tutoring Draco. Hmm. I turned around, and Harry was standing there. I smiled.

"Hey, Harry! Ready for school?" I asked him.

Harry nodded. "I hear that you have a crush on Fred and George."

I turned around slowly to face Ron. He cowered, and I forced a smile.

"I am going to go and sit outside, in front of the car, and hope it runs me over." I told them.

I went down the stairs, with Ron and Harry following behind me. I went past everyone else at the table, and Harry and Ron followed me outside. I sat down in the driveway, and played around with a few rocks.

Harry sat down next to me, and so did Ron.

"I'm sorry, Lana." Ron said.

I smiled. "I know, Ron. I'm just kind of embarrassed. Where's Percy so I can hit him and feel better?"

Ron and Harry laughed, and then other people started coming out of the house. It was time for us to go and get onto the train.

****

We were kind of late getting to the station, so we had to hurry and board the train. I saw my mother and father though, and Chelsea and I ran to them.

"You're back!" I cried. "We would stay and chat more, but we have to board the train."

They nodded and hugged us and kissed us.

"We missed you these past weeks." My mother said.

"But duty called." Father added.

"Yes, well lots of notes." Chelsea told them.

My mother nodded. "Of course, girls. Now go get on the train, and be very, very good. You too, Scotty."

We nodded, smiled, hugged our parents one last time, and then ran through the wall. Dad had followed us this time though.

"Girls, promise me that you won't go off and do dangerous things this year." He was obviously talking to me. "Voldemort is not someone to be trifled with."

I nodded. "I know, Dad."

"We love you, and I'll keep her in line." Chelsea told him.

"And you, Scott." My father added. "You are going to watch after your sisters because you know better than we that they are not to be trusted."

"Sure thing, Dad." Scott said.

He hugged us even longer than he had before, and kissed us all before he let us board the train. He waved at us until we were out of sight, and Chelsea and I ran into Hermione and Ginny when we turned around. Scott went off with Peter and Carlos, and Ginny took Chelsea with her, and Hermione smiled and I tagged along with her.

We all made it on to the train, except Harry and Ron. I didn't notice until Hermione and I had gotten onto the train, though. We looked around, and realized that Ron and Harry had not made it. We looked around the train, but no sign of them, and the train was moving now. Then we looked into a compartment with Fred, George, and Lee in it. I blushed, and quickly shut the door, and found Hermione and I an empty compartment for us.

"What was that?" She asked me.

"I kind of developed this little crush on Fred and George over the summer, and Ron told them, and now, I'm embarrassed as Hell." I said.

Hermione laughed. "Well, you will have a hard time avoiding them this year. And what about Oliver? Malfoy?"

I smiled. "Draco and I kept in touch all summer, and I saw him in Knockturn Alley. And Oliver Wood and I have been writing back constantly. We're both excited for the new Quidditch season this year."

I recalled every detail for her, and then Draco of all people opened the door to the compartment. I smiled at him, and he returned it.

"So, where is Potter?" He asked me.

I shrugged.

"Did you find him in Diagon Alley?"

I nodded. "Yes. We found him."

Draco smiled. "Good."

Hermione just looked at us.

"Hi, Hermione." Draco mumbled.

Hermione looked like she was going to have a heart attack.

"Hello, Malfoy." She told him.

I was about to say something else, when Chelsea and Ginny showed up. I smiled at them, and stood up. I excused myself, as Hermione, Ginny, and Chelsea got to know each other. I followed Draco to a compartment with just him and me.

I smiled at him as he closed the door. He motioned for me to sit down, and I did. Then he sat on the side opposite of me, and took my hands.

"So, about this tutoring thing, how are we going to make it work?" Draco asked me.

"So you want me to tutor you?" I asked excitedly.

Draco nodded. I beamed.

"Okay. Well we could do it sometime after dinner. Or during dinner. I could talk to Dumbledore about it. There are bound to be classrooms, or a way for one of us to eat at the others table so that I can tutor you." I told him.

Draco smiled and kissed my cheek again. My heart fluttered, and then I heard Fred and George's voices, and both Draco and I stood up.

"Just make it seem like I was being rude to you. We can't have anyone knowing you know. Potter's best friend and Potter's rival." Draco said.

"Why can't I be friends with all of you?" I asked.

"Trust me. You can't publicly be friends with both of us." He said.

I sighed. "Fine."

"Glad you see it that way."

"What should we say?" I asked.

"Just look like you've been crying, and make the story up later." He told me.

I rubbed my eyes so that they were red and watery, and then I ran out of the compartment just as Fred and George walked by. They looked in and saw Draco, and then Fred ran after me. I found Hermione, Chelsea, and Ginny, and I sat by Hermione, who let me 'cry' on her shoulder. She realized that I was faking, by the way.

"Lana, what's wrong?" Fred asked.

I shook my head.

"What did Draco say to you?" He asked.

"It's not important, just leave me alone." I told him.

Well, Draco's plan backfired. Fred set a trap for him, and he had to be rushed to Madam Pomfrey right when we got to Hogwarts. It made me feel really bad, but he made it to the feast in time, and the sorting of the First Years. Scott was probably planning something for him too—anything that happens to me is well known by him. Poor Draco.

****

"Welcome to Hogwarts, First Years!" Dumbledore told them. "And welcome back to Hogwarts for those of you Second Years and up!"

There was clapping from all of the teachers at the teacher's table, and from the students. Then, like last year, there was the sorting of the First Years. Ginny and Chelsea both got into Gryffindor, and then Dumbledore had an announcement to make.

"Lana and Chelsea Langston are my nieces—and most of you know Scott Langston, their older brother, and my nephew. Most of you met Lana last year, but now both of my nieces are here. Will you both please stand up? You too, Scott my boy?" Dumbledore asked.

There was applause, we stood up and I quickly sat back down. Then, Dumbledore introduced us to this year's teachers.

"This is Professor Gilderoy Lockhart. He will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year." Dumbledore announced. "I hope that you will all make him feel exceedingly welcome."

The food appeared as I groaned and I saw out of the corner of my eye, Chelsea banging her head on the table in front of her plate but no one took any notice, and at that moment I felt like doing the same. Every other girl in the room sighed, and clapped as loud as they could. I saw Draco smirk at me out of the corner of my eye, and he motioned for me to meet him after dinner. I nodded, in agreement, and Chelsea caught it.

Oliver smiled at me, and I smiled back. Chelsea caught that as well. Oliver handed me a wrapped gift, and I smiled. He had remembered my birthday.

"Thank you, Oliver. You shouldn't have." I blushed.

I unwrapped the gift, and to my surprise, it was a…necklace! Another locket. I was in for it now. Two lockets…one from Draco, the guy that I was going to try and tutor just to hang out with him, and one from Oliver, who I had had a crush on since I first met him.

Chelsea was snickering. She saw the locket in my hand, and knew about the one around my neck. Hermione looked up, and started laughing silently to herself as well. Oliver's locket was silver, and it had pretty engravings on it. Obviously very expensive. So why give it to me and not Alicia?

I beamed.

"I'm glad you like it." Oliver told me.

"Oliver, it's…it's…beautiful!" I gave him a large hug, and caught a quick glance at a slightly jealous Draco, and a slightly 'I'm going to kick butt' Scott.

I needed to just run off and crawl into a hole. I excused myself from the table halfway through the feast, and ran out of the Great Hall. I was followed…by Oliver and Draco. I had some explaining to do!

"Lana!" Oliver cried.

Draco hid behind the statue.

"Yes?" I asked.

"What's up?"

I smiled. "Well, I just need some fresh air. You know me."

He nodded. "You know, we should talk later."

I nodded. "Totally should."

He kissed my forehead like he did last Christmas, and left to go back into the Great Hall. Draco came out of hiding, and Scott came out of the Great Hall—he was a little pissed that Oliver had kissed my forehead.

"What was that all about?" Draco asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing of importance."

Draco smiled. "Well, about this tutoring thing, when are you talking to Dumbledore about it?"

"Is that why you wanted to meet me after dinner?" I asked.

Draco blushed and shook his head. "I wanted to ask you about something I overheard."

I paused. Uh-oh. What might it be?

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Are you the girlfriend of one of the Weasleys?"

I forced a laugh that sounded genuine.

"That's funny, Draco. Very funny." I said.

If Fred and George were spreading rumors now, I was going to get one of them.

Draco smiled, relieved. "Good. Just checking, you know."

I smiled too. "Yeah, well, I want to get up and unpack, and unwind by the fire with my cat."

Draco kissed my cheek again, and then I bounded up the stairs to the Gryffindor Commons—it's hard to outrun Scott—let me tell you! When I got there, people were talking about Harry and Ron and their arrival to Hogwarts by car, and their crash into the Whomping Willow. My mouth dropped open.

"That's bloody brilliant!" I cried.

I ran out of the portrait, and back to the Great Hall. I didn't get all the way there, though, because Hermione came running at me. We both told each other about Harry and Ron, and headed back to the Commons.

We saw Harry and Ron outside of them, and ran over and hugged them.

"I should warn you, you've got a fan club." I told Harry and Ron.

"You're not telling me that you actually flew that car." Hermione said.

"I think it's totally awesome!" I assured them.

They beamed, but Hermione wasn't so happy.

"You could have been expelled." Hermione told them.

"Skip the lecture, and tell us the new password." Ron said.

"It's 'wattlebird'." I told them.

The whole of the Gryffindor Tower seemed to be awake to praise Harry and Ron on their awesome entrance. Hermione and Percy were the only people who didn't like it, but I of course cared very little about what Percy had to say. Harry and Ron saw Percy and feared for their very lives, so they went up to their Dorm.


	4. Lana, You Are Too Emotional

The next day was horrible. I had breakfast, which was all right, but Ron got a Howler, which wasn't so good.

"**___STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE___**" Mrs. Weasley's voice was yelling.

Ron was so embarrassed, and sank low in his chair.

"___**LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED___**" Mrs. Weasley continued.

I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take.

"**___ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED___YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME.**"

The red envelope dropped into Ron's hands, and burst into flames. I had to leave the Great Hall, but McGonagall was passing out schedules. I had double Herbology with the Hufflepuffs first. Just my luck.

When we got to the Greenhouse, Lockhart was there. I wasn't very thrilled, but I smiled sweetly at him, and he returned it. I saw his blonde hair and stuff, but I really didn't see the heartthrob behind the author. I guess I was just fixed on Draco, Oliver, Fred, and George though.

After Professor Lockhart left, Professor Sprout started class.

"Can anyone tell me the properties of the Mandrake?" Professor Sprout asked.

Hermione and my hands shot up in the air, but she called on Hermione.

"Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative. It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their normal state." Hermione said.

"Excellent. 10 points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout told her.

"Now the Mandrake is used in many antidotes, but is also very dangerous. Can anyone tell me why?" Sprout asked.

Again, Hermione and I raised our hands, but Sprout called on me this time.

"The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it." I said.

"Precisely. 10 more points to Gryffindor." Professor Sprout told me.

Then we went about replanting baby Mandrake plants, wearing earmuffs the whole time. Then we left double Herbology, and met Justin.

"Justin Finch-Fletchley." He said. "Know you of course, you're the famous Harry Potter." He turned to Hermione and shook her hand too. "And you're Hermione Granger, always top in everything." Then it was my turn. "And you're Lana Langston, Dumbledore's niece, and a top scholar." Then he turned to Ron. "And you're Ron Weasley. Wasn't that your car that crashed into the Whomping Willow?"

Ron stopped smiling. He still hadn't gotten over the Howler.

Then we had Transfigurations with Professor McGonagall, and I was actually enjoying myself. We were turning beetles into buttons, and though it took three tries, I finally did it. When Hermione and I looked over at Harry and Ron though, it was kind of entertaining because neither of them really knew what they were doing. They looked relieved when the lunch bell rang.

****

I grabbed a biscuit, buttered it, and then stood up from the table.

"Where are you off to?" Harry asked.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore." I replied, and went up to the teacher's table.

Uncle Albus smiled.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

Uncle Albus nodded. "Anything, Lana."

"So, am I allowed to tutor someone from a different house?"

He nodded. "I suppose that that would be allowed. Are we thinking of the same person here?"

I blushed. "I'm thinking of Draco Malfoy."

Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape turned to me when I said his name.

"What is that, dear?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I was hoping to tutor Draco Malfoy. I figure maybe I can help him raise his grades, and keep him out of trouble." I told her.

Dumbledore smiled, but Snape scowled.

"I don't think that young Mr. Malfoy needs help." Snape said.

"Actually, Severus, his grades are not too good this year. I like this idea. In fact, why don't you take an hour each day away from dinner, and teach him in the empty classroom just outside of here." Dumbledore offered.

I beamed. "Thank you, Uncle Albus! I mean, Professor Dumbledore."

I gave him a quick hug, and then went back to the table to overhear a conversation between Harry and Ron.

"You better not let Ginny and Colin meet, or they might start a Harry Potter Fan Club." Ron said.

"Colin?" I asked.

"You remember Colin Creevey, the boy who is always carrying around the camera? A First Year in Gryffindor?" Ron asked me.

I smiled and nodded. I remembered him now.

"Well, he is obsessed with Harry." Ron told me.

"Like Ginny?" I asked.

Ron nodded and I laughed.

"Guys, can we please just drop the subject?" Harry asked.

I nodded, and ate some food before Harry asked what our next class was.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hermione said promptly.

I froze, and then dropped my biscuit and felt my head. Maybe I could fake a fever, or some deadly disease.

"I feel kind of faint." I told them.

Ron smiled. "Lana, you won't be getting out of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

I sighed, and put my head on the table.

"Why would you want to get out of it?" Hermione asked me.

"Do I really need to answer that?" I asked her.

"She doesn't like Lockhart all that much." Fred said.

I looked up, and saw Fred and George standing there. I smiled.

"How can you not like Professor Lockhart?" Hermione was shocked.

"I just can't stand his perfect blonde hair, and blue eyes…am I crazy?" I asked myself as I rambled on.

Hermione nodded. "He's perfect."

"There. I can't stand him because he's perfect. But hey, he'll grow on me eventually." I admitted.

I could rarely hate someone for very long, unless it was Percy Weasley. I guess I needed to give Percy another chance too, but that would take some getting used to in my head. I wasn't sure if I could give Percy another chance or not.

****

So my first class that afternoon was Defense Against the Dark Arts, with Gilderoy Lockhart. I had to be dragged to class by Hermione, and when we got there, I sat with Hermione and Neville. Hermione was busy staring at Lockhart, and I got out my quill, ready to take notes on today's lesson.

"Good afternoon class. I am Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of _Witch Weekly's_ Most-Charming-Smile Award…but let's not talk about that." Gilderoy told us. "I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

He was waiting for us to laugh, but only a few people smiled. I sat there waiting for him to move on, even though he sent me a look begging me to laugh, probably thinking I was so popular that others would join in. I just sat.

"Well, since you all have bought a complete set of my books, I figured we would start off the day with a quiz." He told us.

I smiled. Maybe this class wouldn't be that hard. I had read the books, and memorized how he had done what he had done. The quiz would be a piece of cake!

"You will have thirty minutes…GO!" Lockhart said.

I looked at the paper and stared in disbelief. The test was completely bogus. The paper read:

1. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?_

2. _What is Gilderoy Lockhart's secret ambition?_

3. _What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?_

On and on it went, over three sides of paper, until the last question, which read:

54. _When is Gilderoy Lockhart's birthday, and what would his ideal gift be?_

So, I wrote in the answers. I remembered it mentioning these things in the books, but I hadn't expected him to quiz us on useless things such as this. What a bogus teacher, if I do say so myself.

He went over the test after we had taken them, and Hermione and I got full marks, and ten points each for Gryffindor. Hermione beamed and had almost fainted when he called her name, and I smiled, but secretly, I needed to talk to Dumbledore about the whole thing. We were supposed to be learning about how to defend ourselves, not about our teacher's favorite color and what not.

"Now that our test is over, we will move on to the lesson for today. Now, be warned! You may find yourself facing your worst fears in this room. But, as long as I am here, I will not let harm befall you." He walked over to his desk, and set his hand on cloth covering a cage of some sort. "I ask you all to remain calm. I must ask you not to scream, because it might provoke them."

With that, he pulled off the covering, and people started to laugh. There were pixies in the cage. They were electric blue and only eight inches high. Didn't look too dangerous at all. He wagged his finger at Neville when Neville said that exact thing.

"I want you all to try and get them back into the cage." Gilderoy then pointed at the cage, and it unlocked, sending pixies everywhere.

He watched as the pixies took Neville by the ears and hung him from the Chandelier. Then Lockhart tried to do a spell, but it didn't work, and the pixies took his wand and threw it out the window, so he hid under his desk. The bell for the end of class rang, and everyone ran for the nearest exit, and Lockhart got out from under his desk, and looked at Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I.

"I suspect you four can just zap them into the cage." He said, and bolted out of the door.

Hermione and I used a freezing spell and started to put the pixies back into their cage.

"Can you believe him?" Ron asked.

"He just wants us to have some hands on experience." Hermione said.

"Hands on? Hermione, he didn't have a clue what he was doing." Harry told her.

"I'm sure maybe he was just frazzled." I said.

Had that really come out of my mouth?

"He didn't have a clue." Harry repeated, and I nodded slowly out of Hermione's eyeshot.

"Rubbish. You've read his books. Look at all of the amazing things that he's done." Hermione said.

"He _says_ he's done." Ron muttered.

****

That evening, I motioned to Draco to meet me outside in the hallway, and he nodded in agreement. I excused myself from the table while Ron was talking to Harry about Colin and Ginny again, and Draco smiled at me.

"Dumbledore says that for about an hour during dinner, we can use that classroom." I pointed to the empty one by the doors to the Great Hall.

Draco nodded. "Sounds wonderful. When do we start?"

"We could start now." I told him.

Draco smiled, and led the way into the classroom.

"All right, what classes do you have tomorrow?" I asked him.

He thought for a moment. "I believe I have Herbology tomorrow."

I smiled. "You'll be repotting baby Mandrakes then."

Draco smiled. "So are you going to tell me all I need to know for tomorrow's class?"

"What do you know about Mandrakes?" I asked him.

"Absolutely nothing." He replied.

I frowned. "You have to know something."

"They're a plant…?" He tried.

I laughed. "All right, the Mandrake is a powerful restorative. It will return any person under a curse or who has been transfigured, back to normal."

Draco thought for a moment. "So if I put a curse on you, you would need the Mandrake to be restored?"

I nodded. "Is that a threat, Malfoy?"

He looked surprised. "You called me Malfoy instead of Draco."

"It just kind of came out. Which do you prefer?" I asked him sweetly.

"Well, if you call me Malfoy, I'm going to call you Langston instead of Lana." He told me simply.

I smiled. "I think that I can live with that. Now, back to business."

"All right, Langston." He said playfully.

"Now Mandrake can be very dangerous, because their cries are fatal to anyone who hears them. That is why you will be wearing earmuffs, and you're working with baby Mandrakes, because their cry can only knock you out for a while." I explained.

Draco wasn't paying attention to me. Maybe this wasn't going to work after all.

"Draco, if you don't actually learn something from me, then Dumbledore won't let us do this anymore." I said calmly.

Draco nodded. "The Mandrake is dangerous because its cry is fatal to those who hear it. Baby Mandrakes' screams only knock you out."

I smiled. "You've got it. Oh, and maybe you should practice a freezing charm, or at least know how to do one, because Lockhart will want you to put pixies back in their cage. It was a disaster today. And McGonagall is having us transform beetles into buttons. If you need any help with that, then just let me know."

I got up, and was about to go back to the Great Hall, when Draco grabbed my hand.

"Thank you, Lana. I'm glad that we have this time to talk." Draco smiled at me.

I smiled back. "My pleasure, Draco."

He kissed my cheek, and I blushed. As I turned around to leave the room, I ran into Hermione. Thank goodness, too, because I didn't know how to tell Ron or Harry about it. I explained it to Hermione after Draco left, and she laughed.

"Is he actually learning anything?" She asked me.

I nodded. "I think he is."

She and I walked back into the Great Hall, and took our seats, Scott frowning at Draco as he sat down.

****

That night when I returned to the Commons I sat down in the chair by the fireplace and stroked Arwen's fur. She purred, and I watched as Chelsea and Ginny came in, and went straight to the Girl's Dormitory. I looked over my homework from my classes, and got started on it.

I started looking over the review sheet for Herbology, and filled in all the answers with no problems at all. Then I got to McGonagall's homework, and began to fill in the answers that I found from the book. There was one that stumped me though.

"The answer is Mandrake." A familiar voice said.

I turned around in the chair, and smiled at Oliver.

"Thanks." I said.

I wrote in the answer, and then looked up at him again.

"Wait, why?" I asked.

"Well, you had the Herbology paper right, so I figured you would know this. The question is asking about how to cure being petrified. It would take a potion made from Mandrakes to restore someone who's been petrified, but the Mandrakes must be adults, or else it won't work." Oliver explained.

I beamed. "So Quidditch isn't all that you know?"

He laughed, and sat down next to me.

"You know, we never did talk that much about our summer vacations." Oliver said out of the blue.

I nodded. "I know we were too busy talking about everything else."

Oliver smiled. "Well, where were you this summer?"

"I was at the Weasley's. Funny stories actually, especially when I punched Percy, but that's not necessarily the best story." I admitted.

Oliver laughed. "You punched Percy?"

I blushed and nodded.

"Yes, I did punch Percy. The first day that I met him, he said that my cat was horrid and that it had better stay away from his owl. I went on about how his owl was shabby and no match for my cat, but that unlike his owl, my cat didn't pick fights with other animals. I told him that Dumbledore had specifically picked out my cat for me, and that no other animal could top it. Then he told me that Dumbledore isn't that smart, and that that meant that I obviously wasn't that smart, and so I punched him in the face." I recalled.

Oliver laughed. "Well, it sounds like he deserved it. And this was the first day that you two met?"

"Well, the first day that I actually had a conversation with him. So the first day that my sister and I came to his house. I had known who he was. He _is_ the Gryffindor Prefect."

Oliver nodded. "Well, he's not the easiest person to get along with."

"You can say that again." I told him.

"Well, he's not the easiest person to get along with." Oliver said, being a smartass.

I laughed. "That's great, Oliver."

Oliver was about to say something else, when Fred and George came in and made whistling noises. I blushed.

"Lana, Lana, Lana." Fred said.

"Should have known that you would be talking Oliver's ear off." George added.

I blushed even more. Couldn't I like disappear, maybe? Oliver happened to blush too, and then Fred and George meandered up to the Boy's Dorm.

"Well, you know what they're talking about." I said slowly.

I was surprised that I could find my voice.

"Yeah. I guess I do." Oliver admitted.

Well, if there ever was a time for awkward silence that was it. Oliver and I sat there smiling at each other for a moment and then he changed the subject.

"We have Quidditch practice on Saturday." He said.

I nodded. "Yeah. I saw the post."

Oliver scooted closer to me.

"Lana, I need to talk to you about something." He told me.

I smiled. "You can talk to me about absolutely anything."

He nodded. "I know."

"So, what did you need to say?" I asked.

"Just that…I was hoping that maybe Alicia could try out as a Gryffindor Chaser." He told me.

My heart sank. So he was just hoping that I would give up my spot to his girlfriend. Wow. I thought he was so thoughtful, and caring, and wonderful. I couldn't help but tear up. Oliver noticed it, and tried to touch me, but I pulled away.

"I don't care. You're the captain." I reminded him.

I ran out of the Gryffindor Commons. I really didn't care if I got in trouble right now. I ran to the corridor on the fourth floor, and sat down in the shadows. Then a hand clasped over my mouth and turned me to face them.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Who do you think it is?" A voice that I recognized said.

I hugged him. I felt arms wrap around me, and fingers run through my hair as I cried. He just let me cry on him, and sat there silent.

"I don't understand it." I told him. "Draco…"

Draco looked me straight in the eyes. "Lana, you can tell me absolutely anything."

I nodded. "I know."

"So what's wrong?" He asked.

I swallowed. "Well, Oliver wants to replace me on the Quidditch team."

"Well, he obviously doesn't know what he's doing." Draco told me simply.

I smiled, but then I started to cry again.

"Lana, what is it?" Draco asked softly.

"He's replacing me with his girlfriend." I told him.

Draco shook his head. "He's making a mistake, and he'll figure it out sooner or later."

I smiled, and kissed Draco's cheek softly. He blushed, and I stood up and turned to go, but he grasped my hand.

"Lana, what was that for?" He asked.

I smiled. "For being you."

****

When I got back to the Common Room, I saw Oliver waiting for me. He rushed to me and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to him. My head was screaming at me and telling me to push him away, but I just couldn't bring myself too. I embraced him.

"I think you misunderstood my intentions." Oliver said.

I looked up at him. "You want to replace me with Alicia."

Oliver smiled. "But you misunderstand why."

"Because…well…I guess I was so in shock that I didn't really think about it." I admitted.

Oliver smiled and kissed my forehead. "It's because you're distracting."

"Distracting?" I asked.

Oliver nodded. "You see last year was weird. You're…different."

So is that what Alicia meant when she told me that I was 'something else'? Had what I wanted to happen be possibly true, and Alicia was glad that I wasn't trying to be Oliver's girlfriend? I blushed. I couldn't say anything.

"Look, I didn't want to make you cry. I won't have Alicia try out. You're a better Chaser anyways. Let's just pretend like this never happened." Oliver smiled.

It was his dazzling, heart-melting smile. I smiled too and nodded slowly. He kissed my cheek, and bounded up to the Boy's Dormitory. Great, now I was distracting two boys, and I was torn between the two. Could my life get any better…I mean worse?


	5. Devious Plans

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Another note about Lana—she is fickle and yet not a whore.**

***laughs***

**I just wanted to make that clear because though she crushes on lots of boys and flirts with lots of boys, it really doesn't go farther than that, and her romantic interest of epicness will reveal himself pretty much near the end of this volume.**

**=P**

****

Angelina shook me awake that morning. I blinked, and looked out of the window. The clouds were pinkish.

"Angelina…it's dawn." I said, sleepily.

"Yes. Oliver booked the field for us to practice on." Angelina explained.

"That's just like Oliver, always wanting to practice. No matter what hour it is." I smiled and Angelina smiled too.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Angelina asked.

I blushed, shook my head, and got dressed in my Quidditch robes. I was the last one out of the Girl's Dormitory, and I ran straight into Oliver. He smiled.

"So, you got up?" He asked.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of missing practice." I told him.

I yawned, and Oliver laughed.

"Tired, are we?" He asked.

I nodded. "Only slightly."

"Well, should we not practice at dawn?" He asked.

"Like what I say on the subject would matter. It's fine." I told him.

Oliver smiled. "You look more awake then anyone else I've seen this morning."

I smiled too. "Well, I like Quidditch, what can I say?"

When we got to the field, we went into the changing rooms, and waited for Harry to get there. Colin Creevey had detained him. I smiled, and tried not to laugh. Then Oliver started explaining his plans for this year, which he had put on boards. In fact, he spent 20 minutes per board, and there were _THREE_ of them.

"Any questions?" Oliver asked.

"I have one. Oliver, why couldn't you have told us all this when we were awake?" George asked.

Oliver seemed a little ticked off. "Now listen here, we could have won the Quidditch Cup last year. We're easily the best team, but due to circumstances beyond our control…"

I looked over at Harry, who was trying to disappear in his chair. He had been unconscious when we played our last game of the season last year, and we had suffered our worst defeat in three hundred years. Oliver seemed to be trying to get over the defeat. I smiled, and Oliver returned it, then I blushed and hid from gazes from Fred, George, and Angelina.

"This year we're going to train harder than ever…Let's go practice!" Oliver said.

When we got outside, we realized that we had been in there for long enough that the sun was completely up. Ron and Hermione were waiting for Harry and I.

"Haven't you finished yet?" Ron asked.

I shook my head.

"We haven't even started." Harry admitted. "Wood's been teaching us new moves."

Then Colin Creevey showed up, and started taking pictures of Harry. I smirked, and Oliver started to freak out.

"Who is that? Why is that First Year taking pictures? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy trying to figure out our new training program." Oliver said.

I laughed, and took his hand. "Chill, Oliver. He's Colin Creevey, and he's in our House."

We blushed, and I let go of his hand.

"The Slytherin's don't need a spy, Oliver." George told him.

"What makes you say that?" Oliver asked testily.

"Because they're here in person." George said, pointing to them.

"I don't believe this! I booked the field today!" He stormed off towards the Slytherin Quidditch team.

"Oliver, don't do anything rash!" I called after him.

"Flint!" He bellowed at the Slytherin Team Captain. "This is our practice time! You can clear off now!"

Flint just smiled his annoying smile. "Plenty of room for all of us, Wood."

Everyone else on the team crowded around Oliver and I. Oliver was not amused. In fact, he seemed quite angry.

"But I booked the field! I booked it!" Oliver spat.

"Ah, but I've got a note from Professor Snape." Flint said,

Flint read the note out loud. It read:

'_I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice_

_today on the Quidditch field owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'_

I was confused.

"You have a new Seeker?" Oliver asked. "Where?"

Then, the team parted to show Draco Malfoy coming through. He looked very good in his Slytherin robes. I know that that is beside the point right now. So he smiled at me and I blushed, avoiding as many eyes as possible—especially Scott's. It was amazing because no one really took notice to Draco except me. Then I saw why. Their whole team had Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones! I gasped, and Draco smiled, as if to ask if I wanted to ride it with him.

Ron and Hermione ran onto the field.

"What's happening? Why aren't you playing?" Ron asked, and then he looked at Draco. "What is _he_ doing here?"

"I'm the new Slytherin Seeker." Draco said smugly. "Everyone's admiring the new brooms that my father bought for everyone."

Ron gaped at them.

"Good, aren't they?" Draco asked him. "I bet the Gryffindor team could raise up some gold for new brooms. Some of you," He was looking at Fred and George, "still have Cleansweep Fives. I bet you could sell them to a museum."

Draco and the rest of the Slytherin team started laughing. I was starting to question my judgment. Draco was being pretty mean right now—Scott was laughing too, so I glared at him and he stopped.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to _buy_ their way in. They got in on pure _talent_." Hermione told him.

Draco stopped laughing, and glared at her. "No one asked you, you filthy little Mudblood!"

Ron looked pissed off, and the others were kind of appalled. I had realized that it was obviously an insult, but I had no idea of what it meant. Fred and George tried to kill Draco, and Flint had to step in front of him to make sure nothing happened to him. Ron took out his wand.

"You'll pay for that Malfoy! Eat slugs!" Ron cried.

Ron tried to put a hex on Draco, but because the Whomping Willow had broken his wand, it backfired, and Ron was thrown onto the ground. Hermione and Harry ran to him, and I followed.

"Ron! Ron, are you all right?" Hermione asked.

Ron opened his mouth to speak, but instead he burped up slugs. I was totally grossed out, and I looked over to see the entire Slytherin team howling in laughter—except Scott—he was angry too.

"We should get him to Hagrid's." Hermione suggested.

Hermione and Harry began to pick him up, and I took over for Harry for a moment before the slug fear kicked in and I told Harry to take Ron back because I didn't want to be anywhere near him. Colin showed up and tried to take a picture of Ron.

"Get out of the way Colin!" Harry said angrily.

As we were nearing Hagrid's hut, we had to hide because Lockhart emerged. Hermione was reluctant to hide at first, but followed our lead.

Lockhart had been telling Hagrid that he could take a page out his book. Probably literally. Sorry about that. Anyways, when Lockhart left, we ran to Hagrid, and he let us in and poured us some tea. Then he asked us why Ron was burping up slugs.

"He was trying to curse Draco because Draco called Hermione something…bad I suppose." I began.

"It must have been bad because it caused quite a ruckus." Harry added.

"It _was_ bad!" Ron said. He burped up some slugs into a pail. "Malfoy called her a 'Mudblood', Hagrid." He burped up slugs again.

"He didn't!" Hagrid growled.

"He did. I don't know what it means, but I could tell that it was rude of course." Hermione told us.

"It's about the most insulting thing he could think of." More slugs came out of Ron's mouth.

"Hagrid? I'm gonna need a bucket too." I told him, and felt myself gag behind my hand.

"Yer gonna burp up slugs too?" Hagrid asked.

I shook my head. "God, no!" I cried, and then I gagged again. "I think I just threw up a little in my mouth…and had to swallow it back down because I have no pail."

"Are you okay?" Harry asked.

I shook my head. "Slug fear. Don't laugh. Ron…continue. Hagrid…pail please."

Hagrid grabbed me a pail and Ron continued.

"Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born, you know, without magical parents. There are some wizards, like Malfoy's family, who think that they're better than everyone else because they have what people call pure-blood." Ron burped again, but only one slug came out, and he spit it into his hand and then put it back into the basin, causing me to spit up into my pail. "There are those of us that know that it doesn't matter. I mean, look at Neville, he can hardly hold a cauldron up straight, and he's got two magical parents."

"And there ain't a spell that our Hermione can't do." Hagrid added.

I nodded in agreement, even still nauseated, and she blushed.

"It's a disgusting thing to call someone. Dirty blood, see. Common blood. It's ridiculous. Most wizards are half-blood anyways." Ron said.

I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something about this—and get away from the slugs. I stood up and went for the door.

"Where are you going?" Hagrid asked me.

"I'm going to go and get back at Draco properly. No one says something like that about my best friend and gets away with it." I told him. "Plus…those slugs are still alive in there, and I have to put as much space between me and them as I can."

Hermione smiled. "Be careful."

"I will." I assured her.

****

I found Draco on the Quidditch field. I walked up there, and he dismounted his broom. He smiled at me, but didn't expect what came next. I punched him in the nose. He held it, cringing in pain, and Flint came and tried to slap me, but Draco stopped his hand and Scott stood between Flint and me. Okay, it had made me feel slightly better, but now I felt kind of bad.

"I'm sorry, Draco. I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey. Hopefully, I didn't break your nose." I said.

Flint was objecting, but Draco accepted, and I walked him to her office.

"By did you bake by dose?" Draco asked.

"You called Hermione a Mudblood, Draco. That was rude, and now that I know what it means, I just had to hit you." I explained. "Whether you like it or not, Hermione is my best friend, and I will not have you calling her someone of 'Dirty Blood'."

Draco smiled. "Do band up bore your bends."

I laughed. "Let's get your nose fixed. I really am sorry, but…"

"But I beserbed bit? He asked.

I nodded. "Afraid so."

He smiled at me, and I blushed. I kind of felt bad for slugging him, but he forgave me. I got him to Madam Pomfrey, but Professor McGonagall was there, and she wasn't very happy.

"Miss Langston, I believe that I have no other choice but to give you detention." She told me.

Draco shook his head, but I just nodded.

"I deserve it. I need to learn to control my temper." I admitted.

I smiled at Draco, and then went into the Commons, and Oliver smiled, and stood up when I entered.

"I hear you hit Draco." He said.

I was stunned. "When did you hear about that? That only happened like ten minutes ago."

Oliver smiled. "I have my sources."

"You were still on the Quidditch field." I told him.

"Guilty." He shrugged, smiling.

I laughed and so did he. "I got detention for it though."

Oliver patted the place next to him on the couch. I accepted, and smiled at him.

"Detention?" He asked.

"Yes, from McGonagall herself." I said.

He smiled. "She thought she was being impartial?"

I laughed. "No, that would be Dumbledore."

I looked up at the clock.

"I should be on my way. I'm sure that McGonagall will be really angry if I'm late." I told him.

I stood up and turned to go, but Oliver took my hand. My heart fluttered slightly, and I turned around to him.

"I'll wait for you to get back. I need to talk to you about something." He told me.

I nodded, and then headed out to find McGonagall.

****

When I found her, I was surprised to see Harry and Ron too, until I remembered that they were there because of the Whomping Willow accident. Ron was supposed to go and scrub things with Filch, Harry was supposed to go with Lockhart, and McGonagall told me to spend detention with Professor Snape.

"Do I have to?" I asked.

Snape shook his head. "You can always go and spend it with Lockhart."

I looked at Lockhart, and Harry silently pleading me to go with him, but I just didn't think that I could stand hours on end with Lockhart, even if I did get to spend time with Harry.

"Bye, Harry!" I said quickly.

Snape hid a laugh, and led me to the Potions room. I frowned. I would be cleaning cauldrons. Maybe I should have gone with Lockhart after all. He'd probably be making me do something easy—like sign autographs for him. Well, I was there; I was about to start cleaning, when Snape told me to stop.

"So, you picked detention with me over detention with Lockhart. Why?" He asked.

"Um, I don't like Lockhart. The first day he had us take a quiz on his books." I said.

Snape laughed. "And that's why?"

I shook my head. "No. No. It's because the first question on the quiz was asking what his favorite color was. And then he wanted us to put pixies back in their cage, and he hid under his desk, leaving Hermione and I to immobilize them and put them away were they belonged."

Snape laughed again. "I see."

I nodded. "So, should I get to cleaning now?"

Snape nodded. "Just clean one, and then you can go."

"What? Why?" I asked astonished.

"I hate Lockhart too." He told me.

****

When I got back to the Commons, Oliver was waiting just like he said he would. He seemed surprised that I was back so soon.

"I got let out early. I told Snape that I didn't like Lockhart very much, and since he doesn't like him much either, he let me out of detention." I explained before he even asked.

Oliver laughed. "Well, I'll remember that next time I get detention."

"But you don't get detention." I reminded him.

Oliver smiled. "Well maybe I should just once so that I can try it."

I shook my head. "You are too weird."

He seemed to think it a playful compliment. I just smiled and started toward the Girl's Dormitory, but Oliver blocked me.

"Have you opened the locket yet?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "Is it important?"

"Here, let me see it." Oliver offered.

I froze. I didn't know which chain was which. All of a sudden I heard a cackle of laughter in the shadows. He turned around to see who was there, and I fumbled with the lockets, finding the right one, and tucking Draco's back into my robes without him noticing.

"Here." I said.

I was actually happy with my sister. Yes, it had been Chelsea's cackle. Okay, it's not a cackle, but she had laughed, whether on purpose or not (I found out later that it wasn't on purpose—Ginny had just said something funny and her voice happened to carry all the way down). Oliver smiled, and opened the locket for me. There was a picture of him that Colin had taken early on in the year, and one of me that Colin had taken without me noticing. Note to self: Shoot Colin. Just kidding! Okay, so I'm not kidding…I mean I needed to get him, but not kill him exactly…and I still needed to get Ron back…*grins evilly…well, mentally anyways*

"That's so thoughtful, Oliver!" I hugged him and then looked up at him.

He was freaking me out. 6th Year! 6th year! My head screamed. Nothing here. Nothing here. Nothing here. Where was Fred or George? Or Draco? Or Harry? Or Ron? Or Hermione? Or Chelsea? Or Ginny? Speaking of Ginny, I hadn't seen her anywhere in a while. What was going on with her…? Back to Oliver freaking me out.

He smiled, and was leaning in to kiss me, so I thought, but he just kissed my forehead gently, and then whispered in my ear.

"Meet me on the Fourth floor at 10:00 tomorrow night, okay? And keep it a secret." He said.

What? He was 16 and I was 12. This was just too wrong. Well, maybe not…okay yes, it was. BUT…he was hot. Well that was interrupted, because Fred came bounding down the stairs. I just nodded to Oliver because I was stunned, and then when I saw Fred, I tucked Oliver's locket away, and Oliver went upstairs.

"Hi, Fred." I blushed.

He smiled. "Hello, Lana."

"I was just thinking about you." I lied.

I really needed either Fred or George's attention so I could let Oliver down without REALLY crushing his feelings. All right, that's a lie, because telling him that there's another guy would totally crush him. Though, better with Fred or George than with Draco right?

Fred blushed. Yes! I got him to blush! My evil…I mean innocent…plan was working!

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to meet me at 9:00 tomorrow on the second floor." I offered.

Fred blushed and nodded. Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Just don't tell anyone. I want this to be a complete secret." I told him.

Fred nodded, and then he went upstairs, and George came down. I smiled a sweet and evil…I mean innocent…smile.

"Hey, George." I said.

"Hi." He said happily.

Well at least he was talkative, though I liked Fred slightly more.

"Can you meet me on the First floor at about 8:30 tomorrow night behind the statue?" I asked him.

"Of course, Lana. I would love to." George said.

Yes! Maybe George was hotter than Fred. Not like anyone…well except me…could tell. I know I'm a sick, twisted, little girl.

"Just keep it a secret. I don't want to hurt Fred, or anyone else." I told him.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of hurting Fred." George told me.

Then why promise to meet me behind Fred's back? Wait, I'm the hypocrite here. I offered…didn't I? Yes, yes I did.

I ran out of the Commons, and into Draco. I smiled. Just the boy that I wanted to see. I took his hand and dragged him behind the…statue!

"Draco, can you meet me at 9:30 on the third floor tomorrow night?" I asked.

"That was crisp, clear, and to the point." He teased.

I blushed. "Just please meet me."

He nodded. "Of course, Lana."

I beamed, and kissed his cheek. Further securing our meeting tomorrow. I am so cruel. Playing these four nice…I mean three nice guys and Draco. Okay, so Draco was very sweet, but I was playing three friends. Or so **you** think! I was torn between four guys, and tomorrow night I was finally going to choose between them…or at least pick two out of the four…Shut-up!


	6. Boys, Boys and More Boys

The next day was the first day of October. Nick had invited Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I to his Deathday party. He had died on October 31, and was celebrating it. I wasn't really paying attention when I accepted the invitation, though, because I was too busy trying to figure out how to meet each boy in only half an hour.

That night, I left dinner early like I had been doing for a while, and I met Draco in the empty classroom to tutor him. I only had twenty-five minutes, since it was 7:35. I had to be heading up to my Dorm before meeting with George, so I could change into something cute. Draco noticed that my mind was somewhere else, and he smiled, and took my hand.

"Lana?" He asked.

I smiled. "Just thinking."

Draco laughed. "About what?"

I searched for an answer. "About our…date tonight."

"It's a date now?" He asked.

"Well I want it to be, but I can only see you for half an hour." I told him.

He seemed crushed. "Oh."

I did something that I had never done before. I stroked his cheek with my fingers and gazed at him. Maybe I didn't need to meet Fred, George, or Oliver. Wait, what was I saying?

"I just need to get something over with. We could meet up tomorrow night if you really want to see me for longer than half an hour." I offered.

Draco nodded quickly. I laughed. He was pretty happy about that.

"All, right, but how about I pick when we meet." Draco said. "I have a surprise for you."

I blushed. "All right. That's good with me."

"Why don't you go on up to the Commons?" Draco said. "I bet you want to be perfect."

I laughed. "You found me out."

I kissed his cheek swiftly, and then ran out of the classroom. When I got up to the Commons, I checked the clock that I had brought from home on my bedside table that ran on MAGIC. It was 7:45. I had more time than I had anticipated. I rummaged through my trunk, and picked out a white turtleneck sweater, and a short, black skirt. Then I pulled on white strappy sandals, and a black headband. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. Then I decided to French braid my hair, leaving little wispy curls on either side of my face.

I smiled. Yep, this would do. I ran back down the stairs quickly, and once on the first floor, I checked the watch that I had magically conjured. It was 8:10. I walked into the empty classroom that I tutored Draco in, but he wasn't there. I peered into the Great Hall, and he was sitting at the Slytherin table, talking to Crabbe and Goyle. I had seen George, and he had seen me, and excused himself. I smiled.

"Let me go up and change." He said.

"Why? You look just fine." I told him.

"Well, I was going to leave soon anyways, because I figured you would change." George said.

I thought for a moment. He had to change because I did? What kind of messed up logic was that? Actually, it was kind of cute, so I smiled.

"I'll be waiting over there." I pointed to a statue of a…DANCING LLAMA! Just kidding. It was a Gargoyle. What else?

I went to the statue and sat down behind it. I had to duck behind it, because Ron thought that maybe he had seen me. Lucky for me, he just kept walking with Harry and Hermione. I watched as Fred came downstairs. Hmmm. They were playing the old switcheroo weren't they? Well, that was what I thought, until Fred went into the Great Hall, and George came downstairs too. When did Fred even go up?

George was wearing a blue sweater and black pants. He saw me, and came and sat down next to me. It was 8:20. I had shaved off ten minutes. If I left early, maybe…never mind. I would just spend ten extra minutes with George.

"So, you wanted to talk to me." George said.

I nodded. "I was wondering about this whole thing."

George smiled a knowing smile, and nodded.

"You mean this whole you having a crush on Fred and I thing?" He asked.

I nodded. "I needed to see you and figure out if I really do like you two a lot, and if so, which one. But I have to leave at 8:57. I have somewhere to be at 9:00."

George nodded. "So, when did you first…"

"Have a crush on you? Um…I think that it was in the second week that I was staying at your house. Funny, you and your brother are. I think it got even larger when you tried to talk to me outside in the garden after the Ron mishap." I blushed as I recalled THAT memory. Ron shirtless…*shudder* Goodness! Just…um…never mind.

"Yeah." George blushed too. "I'm still very sorry about that."

I shrugged. "So…do you like me?"

George nodded. "I believe that I do."

"For how long?" I asked.

George thought for a moment. "The day in the garden."

I smiled. Same memory, eh? Well I guess that would work.

"So why tease me about Oliver?" I asked.

"Because you like him more than me or Fred. You just got to know Fred and I this summer, so it's understandable. Anyways, Oliver…" He stopped.

"Oliver what?" I asked.

George shook his head. "Never mind. What time is it?"

I checked my watch. "8:50." I told him.

"I need to go and take care of something." He said slowly.

I just smiled. I guess I just crossed one person off of my list. But that wasn't definite.

****

I said goodbye to George, and slowly meandered up to the Second floor. I looked around for Fred, and saw him sitting by a statue. He was wearing a green sweater and black pants. I smiled. Exactly like George except for the color of the sweater.

"Hey, Fred. You're early." I said.

"So are you." He pointed out.

I smiled. "Yes, yes I am. I have to leave at 9:25. I have some business to attend to. I needed to ask you—"

"About you having a crush on me?" He asked.

Goodness. The Weasleys were too darn smart. I just nodded.

"Do you like me?" I asked him.

Yes, I was straightforward with Fred.

"Yes." Fred said quickly.

Wow. I hadn't expected Fred to answer my questions so readily, but I suppose that I couldn't really expect much of anything else.

I blushed. "Oh. For how long?"

"Since the night you snuck into the car." Fred said again.

It was like he knew what was coming next. Was he somehow spying on the conversation I had had with George? No. Fred was too sweet for that. But he was cunning enough to do something like that.

"So, you really wanted to meet me here?" I asked.

"Yes. We needed to get something out of the way." He said.

I was smiling slowly. Maybe he liked someone else, and he needed to break this whole…I don't know what to call it…thing off with me.

"What is it? Do you like someone else?" I asked slowly.

"I kind of like…Angelina Johnson." He said.

"Oh. Well that's perfectly fine. I completely understand. Your type and everything. Anyways, I'm your younger brother's best friend. That's kind of awkward if you ask me." I told him.

He nodded. "I guess so."

"Well, I guess I should go then. We pretty much sorted it out." I said.

"I guess we did. But I'll go." Fred told me.

Well, Fred was checked off now too, but that was definite.

After Fred left, I checked my watch. It was 9:10. Maybe I could find Draco and we could spend at least 45 minutes together. I took my locket that Draco had given me out of my sweater. I had lots of time with Oliver. I went up to the third floor, but Draco wasn't there. I was about to turn and leave, when a hand shot out of the shadows and grabbed my wrist, pulling me into the shadows too.

"What the—?" I tried, but a hand clasped over my mouth.

"Be quieter, Lana." A familiar voice said.

"All right, Draco." I said.

Draco smiled. "Well you know it's me."

"Of course I know it's you! Who else pops out of random shadows and scares me half to death?" I asked him.

Draco laughed. "You mean no one else does that?"

I hit his shoulder lightly. "No one else is that mean."

Draco faked a hurt expression. "I'm…mean?"

I smiled, and nodded.

"You know, you're early. What's up with that?" Draco asked me.

I smirked. "You're early too, you know."

Draco smiled. "Oh am I? I think I'm late."

"What? That makes no sense. You were hiding in the shadows before I got here."

Draco shook his head. "You can't prove that."

"Oh I can't?"

"No."

I was about to push him lightly, but he grabbed my hand, and stroked it with his fingers. I blushed.

"I see that you're still wearing the locket I gave you." He said.

I nodded. It was a stroke of genius to pull it out in the open. Then I wouldn't have to fumble with the one under my sweater. He smiled, and touched it.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Have you opened it yet?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Should I have?"

"Well why wouldn't you have? It's a locket." He stated.

I blushed. He was right. I opened it, and looked inside. It had a small engraving on the inside: "_To my Lovely Lana. With Love Always, Draco._" I smiled.

"Draco, it's lovely." I kissed his cheek. "It was ever so thoughtful."

Draco smiled, and stroked my cheek. "It was little to show you how special you are."

Wow. He was so loverly. I wanted to hug him, and I did. He blushed, but held me tight as I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Your hair smells good." Draco told me.

I laughed softly, still holding onto him. "Thank you."

I let go, but Draco did not. I smiled. It was comfortable just sitting there holding on to one another. He let go after a couple more seconds though, and I smiled at him and sat down. He followed my lead.

"So don't you have to leave in a little bit?" He asked me.

I stood up and looked at my watch. He stood up too.

"Did you have to stand up to look at your watch?" He asked.

I smiled and shook my head. My watch read 9:35. I had at least twenty more minutes with him.

"It's only 9:35. We have 20 more minutes." I told him.

I turned around, and tripped, knocking Draco over and falling on top of him…AGAIN.

Draco just laughed. "Did you do this on purpose?"

I glowered at him jokingly. "Of course. I just like this, Draco."

Draco smirked. "Really now?"

I rolled my eyes. "You wish I just liked this enough to do this on purpose."

Draco nodded. This time I couldn't tell if he was kidding or not. He seemed to realize that I was thinking about that, and smiled.

"I was joking, Lana." He said.

"I know." I lied.

"Uh-huh." He answered.

I guess Draco had seen right through that lie.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"I mean, you thought I was serious. Have I really done anything to make you believe that?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"All right then."

"You're not mad are you?" I asked.

He smiled and shook his head. "How could I possibly be mad at you?"

"Well, I broke your nose yesterday." I said.

Draco laughed. "Yes, I suppose that you did."

I blushed. "Still sorry about that. I could have just yelled at you or something."

Draco shook his head. "Breaking my nose was a good thing."

WTH? Was he seriously saying that I should have broken his nose? I thought that he wouldn't talk to me after I had, but he still liked me as much as ever. Maybe I didn't need to meet Oliver. Wait a moment…did that really just come from me? This was OLIVER WOOD that we're talking about!!!!

Draco laughed. "What were you thinking?"

"That you wouldn't ever speak to me again, actually." I admitted.

Draco shook his head. "I mean now."

"Oh. I was pondering why you think it was good that I punched you." I covered.

He nodded. "You were standing up for your friend. That was very noble."

I blushed. "I just let my anger get the better of me."

Draco laughed. "And that's part of the reason why I like you so much."

"Because I have anger management issues?" I asked skeptically.

Draco just smiled. I was taking that as a yes, until he shook his head.

"Because you have instincts that you follow instead of your head. You helped Potter out of a mess last year. You'll probably have to always help him out." Draco said.

I laughed. At that moment, I wanted to kiss Draco…and so I kissed his forehead.

Draco blushed. "What was that for? And if you feed me another 'for being you' line, I'll have to tickle you."

"You wouldn't!" I cried.

"Do you want to find out?" He asked.

I shook my head. "It was just because…well…it was for being you."

Draco smirked, and started to tickle my sides. I giggled, and tried to squirm my way off of him, but he was too quick, and a lot stronger than me. In the end, he pinned me to the ground. Then he kissed my forehead.

I blushed. "Now what was that for?"

"For being you." He answered.

I smiled. Then Draco got off of me, and lent me his hand. He helped me up, and then kissed my cheek.

"I think that it's probably time for you to go now." He said.

I checked my watch. 9:50.

"Well, we have five minutes." I told him.

Draco smiled. "Why don't you go hop on whatever it is that you need to do. I'll send you an owl tomorrow, telling you when to meet me and where."

I nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

Draco was definitely staying on my list.

****

So at 9:52 and 30 seconds, I kissed Draco's cheek, 'Goodbye', and then went up to the Fourth floor, after Draco left. I had switched lockets again. I ran right into Oliver at 9:56. Again, he was early, but this time, I was meeting him, instead of him meeting me. I smiled, and so did Oliver.

"I'm glad you came, Lana." Oliver told me.

"Of course I would come. What kind of friend would I be if I hadn't?" I asked.

Oliver smiled. "I needed to tell you something."

"Yes, I remember you mentioning that." I told him.

Oliver nodded. "Well, I was going to talk to you about this whole Quidditch, Alicia, and you thing."

I smiled. Oliver was kind of fumbling over his own words.

"You can tell me absolutely anything." I told him.

"I know, which is why I should tell you that your Quidditch position is completely secured." He said.

I was disappointed. "Oh."

I must admit that that is NOT what I wanted to hear. I mean, I know that there's a four year difference, and that's not really…right, but I kind of wanted to know if I could flirt with him without Alicia getting on my case.

"I also wanted to say that Alicia and I are still…"

"Very much together?" I asked.

He nodded, but blushed.

"So, why exactly am I here?" I asked softly.

"I wanted to let you know that the locket was a sign of friendship."

"I got that." I admitted. "I expected nothing more. You are obviously crush material, but I must say that you are 16 and handsome, and I am only 12."

"And very pretty." Oliver added. "And I had a crush on you until I weighed the age difference."

I nodded. "That's where the distracting comment came from?"

Oliver nodded.

"Well, I like us as brother and sister." I told him.

"I do too. Maybe we should go back to bed." He suggested.

I guess Oliver was off of my list too. I needed to sleep though, because we had Quidditch practice tomorrow, bright and early.


	7. Lessons

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**I have a feeling the chapters will start getting really long, lol.**

**Have fun reading!**

**Leave feedback if you wanna!**

**=P**

****

I had realized that I badly needed to get out of this Deathday party of Nearly Headless Nick's. Since we had Quidditch practice this morning, a brilliant idea popped into my head. I smiled at Oliver, and then ran over to Fred and George.

"One of you needs to hit me with a Bludger." I told them.

They were speechless.

"What?" They asked.

"One of you needs to hit me with a Bludger." I repeated.

"But, why?" Fred asked.

"Because I just really need you to. Just 'accidentally' hit me. No one will get mad at you." I pleaded.

"Well, if you insist." George said slowly.

"I do." I said firmly.

Now when this idea popped into my head and I acted on impulse, I hadn't expected the Bludger to hurt so much. We had been practicing for 15 minutes, when George 'accidentally' hit me with a Bludger. Little did Fred know, because he 'accidentally' hit me with a Bludger too. I was struck in the left arm, and the right leg.

God was it painful! I heard a crack, and my broom was broken in two. I fell to the ground, which hurt really bad as well. Harry was closest, and ran to me. The rest of the team followed him quickly.

"Are you all right, Lana?" Harry asked.

I cringed in pain. "I think so."

Oliver gingerly touched my leg, but I squealed. When I opened my eyes, Fred and George were looking horribly sad. I just shook my head, and sent them secret messages telling them not to feel bad.

I hadn't realized that McGonagall had been watching, and had brought Lockhart of all people out with her. He knelt by my side and grabbed my arm. I screamed, and smacked him with my right arm.

"She has a broken arm and a broken leg." Oliver told them as they came up to me.

"Don't touch it!" I cried as Lockhart got close to my leg.

"I can fix it." He said.

"NO! Don't touch it! Don't touch it!" I screamed.

Lockhart pointed his wand at my arm, but I knocked it out of his hand.

"I only trust Madam Pomfrey with this. DON'T TOUCH IT!" I told Lockhart.

"Miss Langston, I must remind you that you are talking to a teacher. Professor Lockhart only wants to help." McGonagall said. "But if you really want Madam Pomfrey to touch it, then Professor Lockhart will respect that."

Lockhart gave McGonagall and I pleading glance, but I refused to let him touch my arm or my leg. Oliver picked me up, and carried me to Madam Pomfrey. He set me on the hospital bed, and sat by me. I smiled at him, as I waited for Madam Pomfrey, who wasn't there yet.

"Shouldn't you be returning to run practice?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Lockhart is bound to try and show up before Madam Pomfrey. I have to stay here and make sure that he doesn't try to heal you when you obviously don't trust him with his wand, and…to make sure that you're okay."

I smiled. "Thanks, Oliver."

Dumbledore came in and looked at me.

"Lana, what happened to you?" He asked.

"She got hit in the left arm and right leg with two Bludgers during practice today." Oliver told him.

I was actually relieved not to have to talk. I was about to pass out just from the pain. Dumbledore noticed that I was in pain.

"Where could Madam Pomfrey be?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe…maybe…" I started.

"Don't try to talk, Lana." Dumbledore told me.

He set his hand on my forehead. I was in so much pain that I couldn't even really think straight. I just tried to smile, but I ended up passing out just as Madam Pomfrey let out a shriek and rushed over to me.

****

I woke up later that evening, to a blonde boy with a concerned look on his face. He was sitting next to my bed. I looked at him and smiled.

"I see that you're awake now." He told me.

I nodded. "Yes, but still sore."

"Well, you got hit by two Bludgers. Dumbledore announced it at Dinner."

"What are you doing here, Draco?" I asked.

"Just making sure that you're okay." He said.

I smiled. "Thank you for caring."

"Of course I care. I wouldn't have invited you to my home for Christmas, or gave you the locket, or met you on the third floor when it's forbidden, or comforted you when Oliver was going to kick you off the Quidditch team, or let you tutor me if I didn't care."

Draco smiled at me, and I sighed.

"You are something." I told him.

"As are you." He replied.

Then he stood up. I was going to reach out and stop him, but my left arm was still broken. I was confused.

"Why hasn't my arm healed completely?" I asked.

"It's because you haven't been able to take your medicine for it. You've been out for hours." Draco said, turning back towards me.

"I'm sorry about our plans." I told him.

He shook his head. "That's fine. It gives me more time to prepare."

He smiled slyly.

"Prepare for what?" I asked.

"If I told you, then it would no longer be a surprise."

I smiled. "Oh."

He took my left hand and bent down and kissed it softly.

"Did that make it better at all?" He asked.

I smiled. "Slightly. Now go before you get caught."

Draco kissed my forehead, and left, just as Scott, Chelsea, Ron, Hermione, and Harry came in. Harry and Ron glared at Draco, and Draco returned it. Well, not necessarily a good thing…but okay.

"What was _he_ doing here?" Ron asked me.

"He was just wondering what stupid thing I managed to do this time." I said quickly.

Chelsea clapped her hand over her mouth, but only I noticed.

"Well it wasn't your fault." Hermione told me.

I smiled awkwardly. The truth is, it was my fault. I had been the one who had told Fred and George to hit me with the Bludger. I just hadn't expected each of them to hit one at me. My plan had backfired…in a way.

"Are you sure that you're all right?" Harry asked.

"I mean are you _really_ sure, because I heard it was really bad." Scott added.

I nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know if I'll be able to go to classes tomorrow."

"Madam Pomfrey should have you healed by tomorrow." Ron said.

"Yeah. I'll make sure that she treats you now." Chelsea told me.

I smiled. "Thanks. But I'll let her get to me in the morning. So what happened at the Deathday party?"

"We didn't go." Hermione told me.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well, we kind of found Mrs. Norris. She was petrified." Harry said slowly.

I sat up and then quickly lied back down and coughed slightly. That had really hurt! Harry ran his fingers over my forehead.

"Are you sure that you're all right?" Harry asked.

"Very sore, but okay." I assured him.

They all smiled at me—even Scott—could it be he liked Harry more than Draco?

"Now, Mrs. Norris was petrified?" I asked. "How and who?"

"We don't know, but before we found her, Harry said that he was hearing voices in the walls." Hermione said.

I looked at Harry. "What?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I just heard someone's voice. It kept talking about how hungry it was, and how much it wanted to kill…and eat."

I shuddered. "That's creepy."

The rest of them nodded.

"I think that you should all let Lana rest." Uncle Albus's voice said.

I smiled. "I am kind of tired." I admitted.

Scott, Chelsea, Harry, Ron, and Hermione said 'Goodbye', and then Uncle Albus kissed my forehead.

"Let's hope that we can fix that arm and leg of yours first thing tomorrow morning." Uncle Albus told me.

I beamed. The faster I got out of this hospital bed, the better. I was terrified of hospitals, but I couldn't really think about that, because I drifted off into a deep sleep.

****

The next morning, I woke up and Madam Pomfrey healed my arm and my leg. It was good to be walking around again. I even missed all of my morning classes. I walked into the Great Hall for lunch, and sat next to Hermione, across from Harry and Ron.

"Hey, guys." I said.

"Hi!" Harry and Ron exclaimed.

"Hello, Lana." Hermione mumbled.

She was in the middle of reading a book. She had a stack of a few more next to her. I just looked at Harry and Ron funny.

"What's up with her?" I asked.

"She can't stop finding new books and reading them. She's determined to find out what did that to Mrs. Norris. And about the Chamber of Secrets." Ron explained.

"Oh. Wait. What about the Chamber of Secrets?" I asked.

"There was a message on the wall near Mrs. Norris that read: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE." Ron told me.

"Oh." I said. "Well I can help you figure this all out. I've read about the Chamber of Secrets somewhere, but I'm not sure where exactly. I can't remember, but with Hermione and I on the case, we'll have it figured out in no time."

I took a book off of Hermione's stack, and opened it. Then I saw Ginny and Chelsea, Ginny of which seemed very disturbed.

"What's wrong with Ginny?" I asked Ron.

"She's freaked out about this whole thing. She loves cats more than anything." Ron answered.

"Ron keeps telling her that we're better without Mrs. Norris, but she seems really touched by this whole thing." Harry added.

I nodded. "So, basically Hermione is figuring out what happened, Ron is convincing Ginny that it's better without Mrs. Norris, Ginny is freaking out, Chelsea is comforting her, Harry is…what are you doing Harry?" I asked.

"I'm trying to stay out of trouble." He told me.

I smiled. "Good idea. Hey, Matty!"

****

On Wednesday, I had helped Hermione read as much as possible, but we hadn't gotten very far. Ron was convinced that we were trying to read the whole library before Christmas, and was complaining about the homework for Professor Binns had assigned. Harry had people running away from him, and I was exhausted from reading. I also hadn't seen Draco other than a few classes, since Sunday evening, and it was Wednesday now.

"We need a copy of _Hogwarts, A History_." Hermione told Ron and Harry when we saw them next.

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Because it talks about the history of the Chamber of Secrets." I said.

"Then why aren't you going to get it?" Harry asked.

"Because _all_ of the copies have been checked out. We have to wait at least 2 weeks to get any of them back." Hermione explained.

Ron then tried to get Hermione to let him copy a part of her composition for Professor Binns' class, because we needed to have three feet of writing on our parchment. She had said no.

"But I only need two more inches!" Ron pleaded.

"Here." I said.

I handed him mine. It was shorter than Hermione's by seven inches, but that was okay, because that made mine 4 feet long. Ron beamed, and Hermione shook her head. Then the bell rang, and Ron handed back my composition, and we headed off to Professor Binns' class.

Today was as boring as ever. You see, Professor Binns was a ghost, and he droned on, and on, and on, and on, and on…you get the picture. Some said that one day he just left his body when he died, not knowing that he was even dead. The most exciting part of class was him entering the room through the blackboard. Does that draw things out for you?

He had been speaking for half an hour today, when something happened that never happens. Hermione put her hand up.

"Miss—er—?" Professor Binns asked.

"Granger. Professor, can you tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?" She asked.

"That's nothing but a myth. This is _History of Magic_." Professor Binns told her.

"But aren't myths and legends based in history?" Hermione tried again.

"Well that is usually true." Professor Binns admitted.

The whole class immediately began to pay attention. Professor Binns had never seen us so interested in his class, so he decided to tell us a bit about it.

"Well, as you all know, Hogwarts was founded by four teachers: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built the castle away from Muggle eyes, so that wizards and witches could come and learn magic in peace because it scared Muggles. The four teachers worked in harmony for a few years, but then a rift was created between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wanted to be more selective about which students were allowed to attend, thinking that only pureblooded wizards could be trusted. Then Gryffindor and Slytherin got into an argument, and Slytherin left." Professor Binns told us.

He looked at the class, who was more enthralled by this lesson, than any other lessons all year.

"This is what reliable history sources tells us, but there is a ridiculous notion that Slytherin built a chamber in the school that none of the other founders knew about. Legend also says that Slytherin sealed the chamber so that only his true heir could open it when they came to Hogwarts. The heir alone would be able to unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic." Professor Binns said.

We all looked at him expecting more, but he seemed irritated with us.

"The whole thing is nonsense though." Professor Binns said. "Naturally the school has been checked numerous times by the most learned witches and wizards, and no such chamber has been found."

"But Professor, if only the heir can open it, maybe only the heir can _find_ it." Seamus suggested.

Professor Binns would hear no more, and changed gears back to what he had been talking about previously, and lost his audience.

****

After class, Ron kept talking about how he was glad that the Sorting Hat never put him in Slytherin, and Hermione readily agreed, but Harry had a strange look on his face. I personally knew he was thinking about something, and I didn't mind Slytherin. Yes he was a little extreme, but not all of the people in Slytherin were bad…at least not _that_ bad.

Before I could ask Harry about what he was thinking, though, Colin came by and Harry blew him off. People had been talking about the attack on Mrs. Norris for days, and people thought that Harry was the heir of Slytherin. It was quite entertaining actually, but only the four of us knew that he wasn't.

"Do you really think that the Chamber of Secrets exists?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." Said Hermione.

I nodded. "I think that it does. I know that Professor Binns said that it was a bunch of Rubbish, but I for one have no problems believing that it exists. Slytherin was extreme."

We came to the corridor where Mrs. Norris had been found. We knew that Filch had been guarding it, but no one was there. We had a look around, and found some spiders, at which point Ron looked like he was going to faint. Ron was terrified of spiders. They were moving in a weird pattern too, right out of the window in a straight line.

"I never knew you were afraid of spiders." I told Ron.

"We use them in potions all the time." Hermione said.

"I don't mind them dead." Ron protested.

Hermione and I started to laugh.

"Hey!" Ron cried. "If you must know, Fred turned my teddy bear into a spider when I broke his broom in two. You would be scared too if you were holding onto your teddy bear and it suddenly grew legs and…" He shuddered, obviously not wanting to relive the memory.

Hermione and I were still trying very hard not to laugh, but really, it was hopeless.

"Do you remember the water?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione. "Where did it come from?"

I pointed to the girl's bathroom. "It would have come from there."

Ron turned the knob, and then backed away.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"It's a Girls' toilet." Ron said.

"Trust me Ron, no one will be in there." I told him, pointing to the OUT OF ORDER sign over the door.

"Why not?" Ron asked.

"Moaning Myrtle." Hermione said.

We walked inside, and Hermione pointed to the last stall. A girl came out of it, and looked straight at Harry and Ron.

"This is a _girls'_ bathroom, and they're _not_ girls." Myrtle said.

"No." I agreed. "They're not girls."

"We just wanted to show them how…er…nice it is." Hermione said.

"Ask her if she saw anything." Harry mouthed to Hermione.

"What are you whispering?" Myrtle asked.

"Nothing. We wanted to ask…" Harry began.

"I wish that people would stop talking about me behind my back!" Myrtle cried. "I _do_ have feelings, you know, even if I _am_ dead."

"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you." I told her.

"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" Myrtle said.

"We just wanted to ask you if you saw anything unusual on Halloween, or lately, because there was an attack on a cat on Halloween right outside your door." Hermione told her.

"Did you hear anything that night?" Harry asked.

"I wasn't paying attention." Myrtle admitted. "Peeves had made me so mad that I came in here to kill myself when I realized…"

"That you're already dead?" Ron asked.

Myrtle gave a tragic sob, and plunged into the toilet, splashing us all. Harry and Ron were about to say something but Hermione spoke up.

"That's almost cheerful for Myrtle." Hermione said.

I nodded, and we left the bathroom, and were stopped by Percy, who was appalled that Ron had been in the girls' bathroom.

"What are you doing in the girls' bathroom?" Percy asked.

"Looking for clues." Ron said.

"Don't you care what this looks like?" Percy asked. "All of you wondering about here when everyone else is at dinner."

I gasped slightly. Dinner? I had to tutor Draco this evening. Shoot!

"Listen, Percy, we never laid a finger on that cat!" Ron said.

"That's what I tried to tell Ginny, but she's so afraid that you guys, well not Lana because she was in the hospital wing, are going to get expelled. Maybe you should think about _her _before going out gallivanting. All the First Years are thoroughly excited…" Percy said.

"_You_ don't care about Ginny!" Ron cried. "_You're_ just worried that I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy…"

"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said, fingering his prefect badge. "And I hope that that teaches you a lesson! No more _detective work_, or I'll write Mum!"

He turned to leave.

"Ron, do you mind if I lose us a few more points?" I asked him.

Ron was confused, but he saw me clenching my fists and nodded, smiling.

"Hey, Percy!" I called.

Percy turned around and I walked up to him.

"You know, I was thinking about what you said, and well, Ron's right. You only care about being Head Boy, and before you take points from me for taking Ron's side, let me give you a reason to really take points away from me." I said.

I punched him as hard as I could…and well…let's just say that I broke another nose. To my surprise, however, he only took away ten points, and never told anyone that I punched him. I guess George was right when he had said that Percy didn't want to admit that a Second Year girl was stronger than him. He made up some lame story about a levitating spell going wrong, slamming a book into his face.

****

That night, we chose seats as far away from Percy as possible. When I told Chelsea about breaking Percy's nose, she couldn't stop howling with laughter. She even went over to tease him about it, but when he pulled out his wand, she and Ginny squealed and ran up into the Girl's Dormitory.

I was the only one who was doing homework…well keeping up with my homework. Ron was trying to blot up the inkblots on his paper, but when he tried to use his wand to remove them, he accidentally ignited his paper. He slammed _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_ shut. To my surprise, Hermione shut her book to.

"Who can it be though?" She asked. "Who'd _want_ to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?"

"Let's think." Ron said in mock puzzlement. "Who hates them, and thinks that they're all scum?"

He looked at Hermione and I, and Hermione looked back unconvinced.

"If you're talking about Malfoy—" She said.

"Of course I am! You heard him when we found Mrs. Norris! He said that the Mudbloods would be next. Come on, you've only got to look at him to know it's him-" Ron protested.

"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" I asked.

"Look at his family." Harry said, closing his book as well. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin, and he's always boasting about it. They could easily be descendents of Slytherin…I mean his father is evil enough."

"They could have had the key for centuries, handing it down from father to son." Ron offered.

"I suppose, that could be true." Hermione said slowly.

I shook my head. "Draco couldn't possibly have that much power. Do you really think that he could control the horror within the Chamber?"

Hermione looked skeptical again, even more so than before, but Harry and Ron wouldn't let it go.

"It has to be him." Ron said.

"But how do we prove it?" Harry asked.

I sighed. "There's a way, but it would be very risky." I said.

Hermione nodded and looked over at Percy.

"It would be difficult, and dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect—" Hermione began.

"If you're done explaining in a month or so, tell us." Ron said.

Hermione and I glared at him irritably.

"We need to get into the Slytherin Common room, and ask Malfoy a few questions about it." Hermione told him.

"But that's impossible." Harry said as Ron laughed.

"No. We just need to use a Polyjuice Potion." I told them. "Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago."

"Do you think we would actually pay attention in Snape's class?" Ron asked.

"It transforms you into someone else. We could change into four Slytherins. No one would know it was us, so Malfoy would probably tell us anything." Hermione said. "Like Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent, and Pansy."

I was a little skeptical of that. Draco would probably tell me more things than he would tell Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent, or Pansy. I guess it was worth a try though. Then I noticed the look on Harry and Ron's faces.

"Don't worry, it wears off." I told them. "The problem will be getting a hold of the book. It's in the Restricted Section of the Library."

You see the only way to check out a book from the Restricted Section was to get a note signed by a teacher.

"That will be hard to do." Ron told us.

"Well, maybe if we explain that we're just interested in the history." Hermione suggested.

"Please, Hermione, no teacher will fall for that. They'd have to be really thick." Ron said.

I smiled. I knew just the teacher to ask.

****

Just as Harry, Ron, and Hermione were getting up, an owl flew in from the Girl's Dormitory, and dropped a package and a note in my hands, and flew away. I looked at the long, deep blue, box over a couple times, and then looked at the note. I recognized the handwriting as Draco's.

"Who is that from?" Ron asked, sitting back down.

"I don't know." I lied.

Hermione smiled slightly, obviously thinking she knew whom it was from.

"Well, open it." Harry told me.

I blushed. I didn't really want to open the note, so I put it in my pocket. I opened the box in front of them, and beamed. It was a red rose, still with the thorns on it, I realized after I had touched it and pricked my finger. I stuck my pricked finger in my mouth, and sucked on it.

"It's beautiful." Hermione said, now knowing full well whom it was from.

"What does the card say?" Ron asked.

I took the card out and read it. I had no other choice! It read:

_Lana,_

_I have a surprise for you, but I won't be ready with it_

_Until Christmas, so meet me then. Further instructions later._

_Love You-Should-Know_

"Problem is, I don't know." I lied.

Harry and Ron were laughing, and Hermione thought it was so romantic. I just sat there waiting for the laughter to die down.

"So, who do you think it's from?" Ron asked.

"I don't know." I said.

"I bet it's from Oliver." Hermione lied.

"Or Fred." Ron guessed.

"Or George." Harry said.

Now why did they have to go and say that?

"Maybe." I said. "I guess I'll find out later."

Draco had obviously known that the owl would find me somewhere in the Gryffindor Tower, so he hadn't signed his name. He was smarter than I thought he was.

****

"So what are you doing out of the Tower?" Scott asked.

I frowned and turned to him standing there in the corridor.

"What are you doing out of the Dungeons?" I asked him.

"Look, I know that Draco sent you a package, and I would really like it if you didn't date him." Scott said.

"I'm 12, Matty. I'm not dating anyone—not that it's any of your business, or your say." I told him slowly.

Scott smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that's what I expected you to say. What's stopping you from telling him how you feel anyway?"

"Maybe the fact that—" But I stopped. "Matty, you're my older brother, and though it's in your job description to 'protect' me from boys, I don't talk to you about them."

"So there's another boy?" Scott asked happily.

I laughed slightly and then I looked up at him.

"You are too sly and sneaky for your own damn good, Matty." I told him.

"Hey now! What would Mum say if she heard you talking like that?" Scott asked.

I shrugged, and stuck my hands in my pockets.

"She wouldn't be too happy, and Dad wouldn't care one way or the other." I said sadly.

"Hey! What's with that?" Scott asked.

"Oh wake up, Matty!" I cried. "You know you're your father's favorite child! That one year that you weren't with us was sad, I admit it, I missed you, but Dad paid attention to me—I was _his_ favorite! I keep wondering what would have happened if you hadn't come back to live with us if I would _still_ be his favorite."

Then Scott wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

"I'm sorry about that." Scott told me. "I didn't know you felt that way. Dad's just happy to see his only son, that's all. I'm sure I'm not replacing you."

"You don't get it, Matty! You're not replacing me, you're taking your spot back!" I cried.

"Lanni, I'm sure that's not true." He said. "Calm down. Dad loves us all the same."

"You just keep telling yourself that." I told him, and pulled away. "You know, I think that being in Slytherin had changed you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked.

"I don't think I even know that yet." I said.


	8. Exit of a Langston

The next morning at breakfast, I smiled at Draco from across the table, and he mouthed something like 'I—s-e-e—y-o-u—g-o-t—t-h-e—p-a-c-k-a-g-e'. I nodded to whatever he had said, and he beamed.

"So we have Defense Against the Dark Arts today." Hermione told us.

"Don't we have that everyday?" I asked.

Ron and Harry laughed, but Hermione wasn't amused.

"Today could be an important lesson." Hermione suggested.

I smiled. I was not going to laugh. I was not going to laugh. Okay, so I lied. I laughed out loud, and then clapped my hand over my mouth when Hermione glared at me.

"Well at least I admire someone who's not in S—"

I clapped my hand over her mouth.

"What?" Ron asked.

"Nothing. She was about to say that at least she admired someone who's not insane." I blurted out.

Okay, so that was really lame. Now who was insane that I possibly admired?

"Who?" Harry asked me.

"Um…Lockhart?" I asked.

Harry and Ron smiled, but they could tell that I was lying. That was all right though, because I never had to tell them what she really said…well at least not that day.

When we got into Defense Against the Dark Arts, Lockhart smiled and we all took our seats. Ever since the incident with the pixies, Lockhart had just been reading passages to us out of his books, and avoiding bringing in live animals.

This particular day, Harry was dragged out of his seat, and used as an example of the part in the book that he was reading today which happened to be _Wandering with Werewolves_. I was hiding my giggles, and Hermione was watching Lockhart with lovey dovey eyes.

After everyone had left after class ended, Hermione walked up to Lockhart at his desk, and Harry, Ron, and I stood beside her around Lockhart's desk.

"I wanted to check a book out from the library, for background reading. But it's in the restricted section, and so I need a teacher's signature to get it." Hermione began. "I am sure that it will help me to understand what you said in _Gadding with Ghouls._"

"And I believe that it would help me as well. Hermione and I have been trying to memorize all of your books." I lied, but I beamed and he bought it.

"_Gadding with Ghouls_ is possibly my favorite book!" Lockhart told us. "Did you two enjoy it?"

We nodded.

"Well, I'm sure that no one will fault me for trying to help my two best students." Lockhart said.

With that, he picked up a quill which Ron thought revolting, and signed a loopy signature on the paper. Then Hermione and I thanked him, and he turned to Harry and I.

"So the first Quidditch game of the season is tomorrow." He said.

I beamed a genuine smile. "I can't wait!"

Lockhart smiled and then turned to Harry. "You know, I was a Seeker in my days."

I was going to laugh, but that would knock me down points with him, and this was the one class where I hated the teacher, but got grades based on how well I could pass the tests and praise him. If I slipped up, I might just be on the borderline between passing and failing.

"It's against Slytherin too, is it not?" Lockhart asked.

I stopped smiling as Harry nodded. I hadn't thought about that. I guess that I would just have to beat Draco, and he would have to deal with it—Scott would have to too. I was playing more against my brother than Draco though, since the both of us were Chasers.

"I could train you if you want." Lockhart offered Harry.

Harry made an indistinct noise in his throat, and the four of us left the classroom.

"I can't believe that he didn't even _look_ at the book we wanted." Harry said.

"That's because he's a brainless _git_." Ron told him.

"He is _not_ a brainless git!" Hermione insisted.

"Of course not, Hermione." I said.

"Just because he called you the best student…" Ron began, but Hermione glared at him.

Hermione walked in front of me, and I just laughed silently, covering my mouth with my hand. Removing it quickly and smiling at her, whenever Hermione turned around.

When we got to the library, we smiled at the librarian.

"We were wondering if we could check out _Moste Potente Potions_." I told her. "We have a signed note from a teacher."

Hermione handed the note out to the librarian, Madam Pince, but did not want her to take it.

"I was wondering if I could keep it." Hermione said.

"Please, Hermione, we'll get Lockhart to give you an autograph. Just win the best composition for our homework tonight." Ron said.

Hermione handed the note to the librarian, who seemed skeptical, but could tell that it had not been forged, and gave us the book. We went to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom, and sat on the floor. Hermione and I opened the book, and we flipped through it until we came to the _Polyjuice Potion_.

"This is the most complicated potion I have ever seen." I said.

Hermione nodded. "Lots of these things we can get out of the student cupboard, but some we will have to…steal. And we'll need a part of the person we're going to turn into."

Ron and Harry looked at us like we were crazy.

"What do you mean part of the person?" Harry asked.

"Steal?!? No." Ron said.

Hermione snapped the book shut. "Fine. You two can chicken out then. _I_ don't want to break the rules you know. _I_ think that threatening Muggle-borns is far worse than brewing a potion."

"Same here. But if you don't want to find out if it's Malfoy, we'll go straight to Madam Pince and return the book." I told them.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you two were persuading Harry and I to break the rules." Ron said. "All right, I'll do it, but no toenails okay?"

Hermione and I smiled.

"So how long will it take?" Harry asked.

"At least a month." I told him.

"A month?" Ron asked. "Malfoy could have attacked half the Muggle-borns in the school by then!"

"Yes, but it's the best plan that we've got." Hermione reminded him.

Ron looked at Harry and sighed. "It would be a lot less hassle if you could just knock him off of his broom tomorrow."

****

So the next morning was Saturday, and I had gotten up bright and early for the Quidditch game. I had dressed in the robes, and I ran out of the door, running into, and knocking Oliver over, and I landed on top of him. I blushed, and so did he.

"Well, nice to see that you're awake enough to hurt people." Oliver teased.

"Yeah, well, first Quidditch game of the season, and all. Plus, it's against Slytherin. Who wouldn't be excited?" I asked.

Then Harry came down the stairs, and laughed.

"Well, good morning Oliver. Lana." He said.

I got off of Oliver quickly and blushed feverishly. I helped Oliver up and he laughed.

"Lana came bolting out of the Dorm and ran me over." Oliver told Harry.

Harry smiled and nodded. "Right."

"Oh come off it Harry." I said.

I turned around, and walked as quickly as possibly out of the Commons. I was going to go and eat breakfast, and then talk to Draco. Before I got to the staircase, though, Harry had come and walked right beside me.

"So, how did you sleep last night?" He asked.

"Well, pretty well. I was thinking about the Polyjuice Potion for a while before I actually ending up drifting to sleep." I admitted.

Harry nodded. "Same here. I really want to know if Malfoy is behind it or not."

I nodded. The truth was, I was kind of curious. I just didn't think that Draco had that much power, but he really seemed to not like Hermione very much because of her parents. I just didn't think he would try and purge the school of them though. He wasn't that cruel.

"I just don't think that he has that much power. You've seen Draco with a wand. He's good, but not nearly as good as you." I pointed out.

"Actually, he's not as good as you." Harry said.

I blushed. "What do you mean?"

"Lana, please. You're a lot stronger than me. You pick up spells so quickly, and they're powerful when you cast them."

"Thanks, Harry." I said. "But the truth is, you're the greater wizard."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but we had reached the Great Hall, and an owl had flown over to me and dropped a letter in my hands. I looked down and then up to the teacher's table, but Uncle Albus wasn't there. Come to think of it, Chelsea wasn't at the table with Ginny. I opened the letter and read:

_Lana,_

_There is news that we must discuss after the Quidditch game._

_Come to my office, directly._

_Uncle Albus_

"What is it?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "Uncle Albus wants me to talk to him after the game. It seems urgent though. Maybe I should go and see him now."

"Go. I'll tell Oliver where you went." Harry smiled

"Thanks." I hugged him and then went off to Uncle Albus' office.

When I got there, my mother, Scott and Chelsea were there, and she was crying her eyes out. I just sat down.

"What's wrong, Uncle Albus? Mother?" I asked.

Actually, I was very scared. I didn't know what to think. Chelsea was balling, and Uncle Albus and Scott seemed really sad. My mother and Uncle Albus gave each other weird looks. I just waited for the news.

"Lana, I really don't know how to say this, but…your father is dead." My mother told me.

"You're joking right?" I asked her. "She's joking right, Uncle Albus?"

Uncle Albus shook his head. "There was an attack on your parents this morning. Your mother escaped narrowly, but your father was killed. The attackers were under orders from Voldemort."

"No." I said. "Are you all right, mother?"

I couldn't just believe that my father was dead. My father couldn't be dead. My mother nodded, and smiled slightly.

"Lana, I know it's hard to believe, but I need you to be strong for me, Lana." My mother told me.

"I could cancel the Quidditch game, or…" Dumbledore began.

"No." I told him. "I just need to be alone right now. But come and watch the Quidditch game, mother."

I ran out of the office, and as I ran, I started to cry. My vision was blurred because tears were in my eyes now, and I ran into someone. I stopped, and slumped down to the ground, not caring whom the person was, or who saw me. I felt arms wrap around me, and I just cried.

"What's wrong, Lana?" Harry asked me.

I just shook my head on his chest. How could I tell him when I needed him to focus on the game? I needed Harry to have his wits about him, so I would tell him later.

"Lana, you can tell me anything." He said.

I looked up at him and wiped my eyes. "Harry, I'll tell you later. Right now it's just too painful."

Harry nodded, and helped me up. "Let's go eat. We need to have food in us before the game…that is, if you're still playing."

I nodded. "Of course I'm still playing."

Harry nodded. "All right, but you don't have to. Whatever happened you seem really upset, and I'm sure that Oliver would understand."

I smiled. "You're a true friend, Harry."

Harry hugged me, and I tried very hard not to cry again, but a few more tears trickled down my cheeks. Harry pulled away and I forced a smile, but Harry saw right through it.

"Maybe, we should go and eat as much as we can. Pig out you know? Pile everything in sight on our plates." Harry suggested.

I laughed. He was trying very hard to make me feel better.

"Now just picture Crabbe and Goyle walking into the Great Hall…in their underwear."

I shuddered. "Harry, are you trying to make me feel better, or give me brain damage?"

Harry laughed, and led me to the Great Hall.

****

After breakfast, Harry and I went out to the Quidditch field. Oliver, Fred, and George noticed that my eyes were kind of red, and asked me what was wrong.

"Don't bother her guys, she doesn't want to talk about it." Harry said softly, smiling at me.

"Yeah. Harry just finally got me to stop crying. I'm such a crybaby." I added.

Poking fun at myself was actually kind of entertaining, because it kept my mind off of my father. The others smiled at me, and I grabbed my gear, and we headed out to play against Slytherin.

We were doing horrible today. We hadn't made a single goal, and the Slytherins were winning. Flint almost knocked me off my broom but only Draco noticed, and he gave me one of his cute smiles, and mouthed, 'S-o-r-r-y—a-b-o-u-t—t-h-a-t'. I just smiled back and shrugged. I mouthed back, 'N-o—p-r-o-b-l-e-m'. Then the weird started to happen. One of the Bludgers started to chase after Harry. The Slytherins were winning 60 to 0 at this point. Oliver called a time out.

"What's going on?" Oliver asked Fred and George.

"The Bludger has been tampered with." George said.

"We're trying very hard to keep it away from Harry. It's trying to kill him." Fred added.

"Look, I can't catch the Snitch with you two all around me. Just leave me alone and go back to the rest of the team." Harry told them.

"It'll take your head off!" Fred protested.

"Oliver, you can't just let it go. Let's just ask for an inquiry." I said.

"If we stop now, we forfeit, and I won't let us lose to Slytherin because of some rouge Bludger." Harry said.

"This is your fault, Wood." George said angrily. "'Get the Snitch or die trying.' What a stupid thing to tell him."

"You told him that?" I asked.

Harry just waved it off. "Let's get back to the game."

The game resumed, and Harry tried to dodge the Bludger on his own. It was actually very entertaining, but I couldn't think about that at the moment. I focused on trying to keep the Slytherins from making any more hoops—especially Scott, who was the best player on the Slytherin team—at least the best Chaser. Then I heard a crack, and I looked to see that Bludger had hit Harry. He sped at Draco, and caught the Snitch. Draco was angry, but Harry had won us the game.

He landed on the ground, and Lockhart, Ron, and Hermione ran towards him. Lockhart pulled out his wand, and I ran over to him.

"Not you." Harry said, as Lockhart bent over him.

"Doesn't know what he's saying." Lockhart told the adoring girls of Gryffindor. "Not to worry, Harry. I'll fix your arm."

"No, I'll keep it like this, thanks." Harry said.

"Really, Professor, Harry should be gotten to the Hospital Wing." I told him sweetly.

Oliver nodded. "Maybe you should just take him to Madam Pomfrey.

Lockhart shook his head. "Nonsense. I am skilled to do this."

Lockhart pointed his wand at Harry's arm, and it went limp. I gasped, and Harry opened his eyes.

"Ah, that can happen to." Lockhart said.

"I'll take him to see Madam Pomfrey." I offered.

Harry nodded, and Ron and Hermione said that they would go to.

"Can you move your fingers?" I asked Harry.

He shook his head.

"I can't feel anything either." He told me.

I felt his arm, and he made no sign of it hurting at all. I didn't show it, but I was disgusted about how his arm felt. His arm no longer had any bones in it.

****

As soon as we got to Madam Pomfrey, she took one look at Harry and ran over to us.

"You should have come straight to me." She said.

"Well, Lockhart really didn't give us much of a choice." I explained.

"Well, mending bones is easy, but growing them back…" She said.

"Growing them back?" I asked.

"Yes." Madam Pomfrey put up a wall, and Ron helped Harry into his pajamas while Hermione and I stood outside.

When she took the wall down, Harry was lying in bed.

"You're in for a rough night." She told Harry.

She handed him some _Skele-Gro_. He drank it, but then sputtered, and spat. Harry just looked at me and smiled as Ron and Hermione argued about Lockhart.

"How are you holding up?" Harry asked me.

Ron and Hermione looked from Harry to me.

"I think I'm okay." I admitted. "Hadn't thought about it until now."

Harry frowned. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't be."

"What are you two talking about?" Ron asked.

"I ran into Harry…literally…after I had gotten some really bad news from Uncle Albus. I was a mess, and Harry tried to make me feel better. I haven't told anyone yet…because…"

I stopped. I couldn't talk anymore. I felt my eyes and throat burning, and I tried to smile. Ron and Hermione rubbed my back, and Harry took my hand with the one of his that wasn't growing back its bones…so in other words, his left one.

"My father was murdered." I told them.

As soon as I had said it, I started to cry again. I felt two pairs of arms wrap around me, and I heard all of them talking at once, telling me how sorry they were. I just nodded, and wiped my eyes.

"I know that it hurts, but do you know who killed him?" Harry asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't who killed him, but it was under orders from…Voldemort."

Ron and Hermione shuddered, and Harry's eyes opened wide.

"Voldemort?" He asked.

There was another shudder.

"Don't say his name." Ron said.

"Sorry, Ron." I told him.

"But, why?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, because I was too upset to stay with Uncle Albus and my mother to find out."

Harry nodded. "I wouldn't expect you to."

"I think it's time for you all to leave." Madam Pomfrey told us. "Harry needs his rest."

We nodded, and she left, and then Ron and Hermione went out the door and I lagged behind.

"Thanks Harry." I said. "I don't know what I would've done tonight without you."

He smiled, and I left.

****

As soon as I left the Hospital wing, my mother and Chelsea showed up.

"Lana." My mother said.

I turned around, and she hugged me.

"Good game." She told me.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"Is Harry all right?" She asked.

I nodded. "He'll be just fine."

"Good." My mother said.

I smiled slightly, and then it faded.

"Honey, I'm sorry that we dropped this on you today." She told me.

I shook my head. "I needed to know. I just don't understand why."

My mother gave Chelsea and I a shifting glance.

"Honey, they're looking into it." She said.

"They as in the Ministry? Windbags." Chelsea told me.

"Are _you_ looking into it?" I asked my mother.

She nodded. "We're all doing everything in our power to figure out why your father was murdered."

I nodded. "Does this mean that you want Matty, Chelsea and I to be extra careful?"

She smiled. "You read my mind."

"Okay. I can be more careful, and I'll watch out for Chelsea." I promised. "Matty on the other hand…" I teased.

My mother kissed Chelsea, and me and hugged us, and then turned to go.

"I really need to get back to the Ministry, but your Uncle will take care of you." She told us.

Chelsea and I nodded, and watched as mom went down the hall. We turned to each other.

"Did she not give you a straight answer either?" I asked.

She nodded. "She just said that they're working on it."

I shook my head. "There's something else going on here."

"I know. But what?" Chelsea asked.

"I don't know, but we should be getting back to the Commons." I said.

Chelsea nodded. "I'll go on ahead. I need to talk to Ginny."

I hugged her, and she ran off down the hall.

****

I was almost to the Commons, when I sped up a bit, running right into Draco. He smiled, and I tried to smile at him, but I was still thinking about my father. He noticed that something was wrong.

"Lana, are you all right?" He asked.

I just shook my head and buried it in his chest. I started to cry again, and he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead.

"Lana, what happened?" He asked.

I looked up at him and he wiped my tears away with his thumbs.

"My father was murdered by Voldemort." I told him.

Draco was shocked. Instead of shuddering and pulling away though, he held me closer and kissed my forehead again.

"Lana, that's terrible. But Voldemort isn't even alive."

"My parents were attacked this morning by some wizards who said that they killed him by orders from Voldemort. You think I don't know that Voldemort is dead? He had to live off of Quirrell's head last year!" I said.

Draco seemed a little taken back, because I had snapped at him, but he didn't let go. He even ran his fingers through my hair.

"I believe that those wizards could very well have been under orders from Voldemort, but that would mean that there is someone working for him, in the way that maybe he has a new host." Draco told me.

I hadn't thought about that before. I nodded.

"You could be right." I said.

Draco smiled and let go of me. "Well, I was going to write you a note and tell you about my surprise, but enough has happened to you today, so maybe I should just walk you to the Gryffindor Tower." Draco offered.

I smiled. "Thanks, Draco. I would appreciate that."

Draco and I turned around, and saw Ron coming towards us. He was very confused, but he smiled at me, and scowled at Draco.

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked Draco.

"Langston came running into me out of nowhere." Draco told him.

"Yeah, I was still shaken up." I said.

"Well, I will see you dorks later." Draco said.

He winked at me but Ron didn't notice. I just smiled, and then Ron walked me back to the Commons.


	9. Bonding in the Hospital Wing

I couldn't sleep that night. I had been having nightmares about my father being killed by various spells by a hooded man. I decided to sneak out and go to see Harry. I pulled on black pants and a black sweater, and then pulled on some black socks, and tiptoed out through the portrait.

When I got to the Hospital Wing, I heard a popping noise, and Harry talking to someone. When I got a closer look, I saw Dobby, and he had said something about making sure Harry didn't get on the train, and hoping that flying the car would get him expelled from Hogwarts. The Bludger had been Dobby's as well.

As I listened more, I found out that Dobby knew who had opened the Chamber of Secrets last time, so that meant that there had to be one. I couldn't stand there any longer in the shadows. I stood up straight and walked over towards Harry's bed.

"Hello, Harry." I said softly.

Harry and Dobby both turned around, startled to see me.

"Hi." Harry managed to say.

Dobby smiled. "Hello, young mistress."

I smiled. "Hello."

"Do you know each other?" Harry asked.

Before I could say anything, Dobby nodded.

"Young Mistress was at my master's house last Christmas." Dobby said.

I blushed.

"So he is employed by your Great Aunt?" Harry asked.

I was about to shake my head when Dobby lied for me.

"Yes, Harry Potter." Dobby said. "Young Mistress was very displeased to hear that her Great Aunt had a House Elf."

I wasn't going to agree or disagree with Dobby. If I did, then I would be lying, or telling the truth, in which case I didn't want to tell Harry so soon about where I was last Christmas. As soon as that came out into the open, Harry and Ron might be pretty angry with me.

Before I could say anything, we heard a noise, and Dobby vanished, and I hid under Harry's bed. It was a good thing that Madam Pomfrey had put the wall up again. I could see and hear Dumbledore and McGonagall talking quite clearly.

"What is it?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"It's Colin Creevey." McGonagall said.

"Where did they find him, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked.

"By the stairs. There were grapes next to him. I believe he was trying to sneak up here to see Mr. Potter." McGonagall replied.

"Petrified?" Madam Pomfrey asked.

"Yes." Dumbledore agreed.

"Just think what might have happened if Albus hadn't been going down to get hot chocolate…" McGonagall pondered.

"He has his camera with him. Maybe he took a picture of his attacker." Dumbledore suggested.

When he opened up the camera, there was a small puff of smoke, and I could smell burnt plastic.

"It's melted. What could this mean?" McGonagall asked.

"It means that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened once again." Dumbledore told them.

"But _who_?" McGonagall asked him.

"The question is not _who_." Dumbledore said. "It's _how_."

They all left the room and then I came out from under Harry's bed. I walked over to the bed, and looked down on Colin Creevey. It hurt.

"I guess this is more serious than any of us really thought." I said.

I looked over at Harry and smiled.

"You'll never get back in. The Fat Lady won't be back tonight. It's 2 in the morning." Harry said.

I nodded. "I know. I guess I'll have to crash here."

Harry laughed. "Well, you've got yourself into a predicament haven't you?"

I nodded. "I guess so."

Harry scooted over in his bed and grabbed an extra blanket and pillow. I lied down on top of his sheets, and put the blanket over me. I turned my back to him, and slept peacefully.

****

The next morning, I woke up to Madam Pomfrey arranging some things in the room. I turned over and smiled at Harry, who had woken up as well, and then we stood up and walked over to Colin's bed, but the curtains that Harry had changed behind yesterday, were up around him. Madam Pomfrey looked at us and smiled.

"I thought you two would be waking up soon. I must admit that it gave me a fright to see another being in here, but Dumbledore assured me that it was perfectly fine, and that I should let you sleep. Been having nightmares, Miss Langston?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Well, maybe you would like to help feed Mr. Potter before he goes out this morning." She said.

Harry and I blushed, but I agreed. He was clumsily trying to feed himself porridge with his left hand, but I took the spoon from him, and helped, while eating some food of my own. When we were done, we went to the Commons and ran into Percy, who flinched when he saw me.

"Have you seen Ron or Hermione?" Harry asked him.

"No. I hope Ron's not in some _girl's_ bathroom." Percy said.

"Percy, do you want to travel down that road again?" I asked him.

Percy shook his head, and quickly left the room. After Harry checked the Boy's Dorm and I checked the Girl's Dorm, we crept down the corridor to the Girl's Bathroom, and turned the knob. We heard hushed voices coming from a locked stall, and we knocked on it, and heard a splash.

"It's us." Harry said. "Lana and I."

Hermione opened the door, and smiled.

"Hi guys. We decided to start the potion." Hermione told us.

Harry and I came into the stall with Ron and Hermione, and let me tell you, it was a tight fit. Harry managed to lock the door behind him, and we looked to see that the cauldron was balanced on the toilet bowl, with a waterproof fire underneath it, which was Hermione's specialty.

"We would have come to get you, but we decided to start on the Polyjuice Potion." Ron told Harry. "Hermione couldn't find you." He told me.

"Where were you, Lana?" Hermione asked.

"She slept in the Hospital Wing with me." Harry told her.

Ron and Hermione looked at me funny and I blushed.

"I was having nightmares, and I figured Harry could use some company, so I crept up to see him." I told them.

Harry wanted to change the subject.

"Guys, Colin was—" Harry began.

"We know Harry." Hermione cut him off. "We heard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick, so we decided to get started on the potion."

I nodded. "Good idea."

"Yeah, the faster we get a confession out of Malfoy, the better." Ron said.

"There's something else. Dobby visited me last night." Harry told them.

"He had very interesting things to say. He stopped Harry and Ron from getting on the train, and he broke Harry's arm." I added.

"He also told me that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened once before, but he wouldn't tell me who." Harry said.

"It's been opened before?" Hermione asked.

"That settles it. Lucius Malfoy opened it when he was here, and now he's taught Draco how to do it." Ron said triumphantly. "I wish we knew how a monster was sneaking around Hogwarts without being noticed, though."

"Maybe it can make itself invisible." Hermione suggested. "Or maybe it can disguise itself, like pretend to be a suit of armour or something. I've read about Chameleon Ghouls."

"Hermione, you read too much." Ron said, adding ingredients to the cauldron.

"But, she may just be on to something." I told him.

"So Dobby stopped us from getting onto the train, and broke your arm?" Ron asked Harry. "You know what, Harry? If he doesn't stop trying to save your life, he's going to kill you."

Monday was slightly weird. Everyone knew about Colin being petrified, and Ginny seemed so distraught about it. Chelsea tried to cheer her up, and so did Fred and George, but they were jumping out at her from behind statues, until Percy yelled at them and told them he would write their mother about Ginny having nightmares.

Breakfast was especially funny though.

"Can I go drown myself now? I'd rather be dead than sit through another Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. You'll have too drag me there… if you don't let me drown or kill myself, because I won't go willingly." Chelsea told Ginny.

Ginny smiled slightly, though I knew that Chelsea was only semi-kidding. I was happy to see her smiling. It had been a while since she had laughed so hard, and that was when I broke Percy's nose.

I was about to ask Hermione about when we would try the potion, but an owl came and dropped a note in my hands. I opened it, and smiled.

_Lana,_

_Are you staying for Christmas? I would really like_

_To show you the surprise then. I think that it's almost_

_Perfect for you._

_D.M._

I looked over at Draco and nodded, but no one else noticed me. They just figured that it was another note from Dumbledore. Draco smiled at me, and then turned back to Pansy, who was boring him to death. I smiled too, and then turned to Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

****

Two weeks into December, McGonagall came by and had those students that were staying for the holidays sign the paper. When Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I signed up, we saw that Draco was staying too.

"That's odd." Ron said.

I knew why he was staying, but I wasn't about to let them know that.

"Well, I suppose that we could use the potion this Holiday." I told them.

"But the potion is only half finished. We need to steal the rest of the ingredients from Snape. We have potions today, so we could do it then." Hermione said.

"We'll need a distraction." I added.

"I should do the actual stealing." Hermione said. "I've got a clean record, and Harry and Ron would get expelled if they were caught. And Lana…well, you broke Malfoy's nose, and got into a fight with Percy."

I nodded. "So Harry, Ron and I are in charge of the distraction. Should 5 minutes do it?"

Hermione nodded. Harry, Ron and I smiled. Deliberately causing mayhem in Snape's class was as safe as poking a sleeping dragon in the eye.

During potions, we were in the large dungeon, making swelling potions. Draco was teasing Harry and Ron, and they knew that they would get expelled if they tried anything to get back at him. When I gave him a look though, he stopped, and Snape, who had been making fun of the Gryffindor potions all day, came to me and smiled.

"It is a rather perfect potion." He told me. "How is it that you are in Gryffindor and not Slytherin?"

It was a rhetorical question though, because he continued on to badger Harry and Ron, and then Neville. At that point, Hermione gave Harry the signal, and Harry threw one of Fred's fireworks into Goyle's potion, and it exploded onto the whole class. Hermione stole what she needed, and Snape gave us all deflating draughts.

Snape threatened the person who threw it, but he did not know who it was. When class was over, Hermione, Harry, Ron and I went to the Girl's Bathroom, and Hermione added the last ingredients that we needed.

"He knew it was me." Harry said. "I don't know how, but he does."

"He can't possibly." I assured him.

"The potion will be ready in two weeks." Hermione said.

"Snape can't prove it was you." Ron told him. "What would he possibly do?"

"Something terrible. Maybe even foul." Harry said.

I smiled. "Let him try."

****

That evening, I was walking around outside the Commons, when Uncle Albus walked by and shook his head.

"Outside after hours, are we?" He asked.

I smiled weakly. "I'm sorry. I just can't sleep. Nightmares and everything."

"Well, you didn't seem to have nightmares when you slept in the Hospital Wing." He pointed out.

"Yes. I know that."

"Was it the Wing or the company?" He asked.

I blushed. "I believe it must have been the company."

He smiled. "Well, hurry inside before someone catches you."

I hugged him, and then went through the painting. I sighed and smiled at Oliver who was sitting up, doing homework from Snape. I had told him about my father and about my nightmares. He smiled up at me, and I walked over to him and sat down.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I nodded. "Just nightmares."

He hugged me, and I leaned against him, and fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up, and Oliver and I were on the couch, and he was still sleeping. I got up slowly, and changed into my robes. When I came out, he was still sleeping, so I woke him up and he smiled.

"We fell asleep." I told him.

He nodded. "You fell asleep and I didn't want to disturb you, so I just slept too."

I blushed. "You could've woken me up if you felt uncomfortable."

He shook his head. "It was fine. I should go get ready for class though."

I nodded, and then went through classes like any other normal day, and Snape was still angry about the firework. He didn't know who did it, but he suspected Harry and Ron. He had no proof, however, so he just made them miserable in class by giving them nasty looks, and critiquing their potions more than usual. We were all waiting for something exciting to happen.


	10. Polyjuice Madness

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Longest chapter yet.**

****

A week later, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I were walking outside when Seamus and Neville ran up to us.

"They're starting a dueling club!" Seamus told us.

I beamed. "This is totally awesome! When?"

"There's a meeting tonight." Neville said.

Harry and I exchanged happy glances.

"This is going to be fun." Harry said.

That night, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I went to the Great Hall at 8 o'clock. The tables were gone, and there was a golden stage lit by thousands of floating candles on one side of the room. There were tons of people packed in the room, and all of us had our wands with us.

"I wonder who's going to be teaching us." Hermione said. "It could be Flitwick. He was a dueling champ once."

"As long as it's not…" But Harry groaned, because Lockhart came out on the stage followed by Snape.

"Good evening, students." Lockhart said. "Professor Dumbledore gave me permission to start this dueling club for those of you that need to protect yourselves, as I have done. For further references, check my literary works."

I rolled my eyes, and Ron smiled as he saw me.

"My assistant is Professor Snape. Now don't worry youngsters, you'll still have your Potion's master when I'm through with him." Lockhart assured the twittering females.

"Wouldn't it be good if they finished each other off?" Ron asked Harry.

Harry laughed, and I smiled. Then Lockhart and Snape bowed to each other, and Snape threw Lockhart backwards with '_Expelliarmus!_'.

"Do you think he's all right?" Hermione asked.

"Who cares?" Harry and Ron said together.

Hermione glared at them and as Ron and Harry laughed I spoke up.

"Guys, that's not nice. Stop." I said.

"Thank you, Lana." Hermione turned to see if Lockhart was okay.

I turned to Ron and Harry, and smiled, putting my hand over my mouth to stop from laughing out loud.

"See? That was a disarming spell. You are all familiar with these, so we'll start you off with them. Let's get into pairs." Lockhart said.

"I think we should break up the famous duo." Snape said as he looked at Ron and Harry. "Mr. Potter and…"

Harry and I got closer together, and so did Ron and Hermione. Snape shook his head.

"I don't think so. Mr. Potter and…Mr. Malfoy." He said. "And how about Miss Granger and…Miss Bulstrode."

Harry and Hermione gulped. The people that they hated most were going to be their partners. Ron and I edged close to each other, hoping to be paired up. Not our luck.

"No. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Finnigan." Snape said.

I frowned. The three people I hung out with most were not my partners. I suppose that was all right though. I looked at Draco who winked at me, and then Snape spoke up.

"Miss Langston and…Miss Parkinson." Snape said.

Draco stopped winking, and smiled a weird kind of smile. Pansy looked at me, and I smiled slightly. I was Pansy's partner. This day couldn't get any better…I mean worse.

As Lockhart and Snape started to yell at Draco and Harry for using spells other than just disarming spells, Pansy and I looked at each other and glared.

"So, when we get up there, you should say a prayer, because I'm going to wipe the floor with you." Pansy told me.

I smiled. "I doubt it."

She glared at me, and I turned away and watched Harry and Draco glare at each other, not sure whom to root for, so I kept my mouth shut. Snape and Lockhart had to intervene, and Ron and Seamus got up there, but Ron's spell backfired due to his broken wand, and he started apologizing profusely to Seamus. Then Hermione and Millicent got up and started to fight with each other…without the use of wands.

Let's just say that Snape and Lockhart had to pull them off of each other, because Millicent ended up getting Hermione in a headlock. Then it was Pansy's turn and mine. We took our places, bowed to each other, and then turned to each other.

"_Expelliarmus!_" I cried.

That was all good and well, but Pansy deflected it, and pointed her wand at me.

"_Waddi wasi!_" Pansy said.

She pointed at a saucepan, and it flew at me, but I ducked just in time.

"DISARMING SPELLS ONLY!!!!" Snape bellowed.

Pansy was so shocked that I had time to stand up and point my wand at her.

"_Immobulus!_" I cried.

With that, Pansy went stiff, and fell over on the ground.

"Miss Langston, as brilliant as that was, that was NOT a disarming spell." Snape told me.

I nodded. "She was asking for it."

"Detention, Miss Langston." Snape told me.

I just shrugged and hopped off of the stage. Harry and Draco got up once more, but this time, Draco shot a snake out of his wand, and it slithered about. Lockhart tried to get rid of it, but he only shot it ten feet in the air, and then it was frustrated, and went over to bite Justin.

Harry stopped it though, but he was speaking a different language, and it sounded quite ominous. I shuddered, but then realized that the snake retreated, and it was kind of cool. Harry could talk to snakes—and I could partially understand it—he had said something along the lines of leaving Justin. No one else thought it cool though, because Justin took off running out, and Snape got rid of the snake, and looked at Harry funny. Harry joined Ron, Hermione, and I, and I was the only one not truly affected by it.

When we got back to the Commons, Ron and Hermione sat Harry down, and I stood there wondering what was going on.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a Parselmouth?" Ron asked Harry.

"I'm a what?" Harry asked.

"A Parselmouth." Ron said.

"A Parselmouth?" Harry asked.

My eyes widened. I got it now. I had read about it in one of Hermione's books. Man, I was a little slow on these things.

"It means you can talk to snakes." I told him.

Hermione and Ron nodded.

"I've only done it twice. I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin, Dudley once, at the zoo. It had told me that it had never seen Brazil. I bet loads of people here can do it." Harry said.

"A snake told you it had never seen Brazil?" I asked.

That was amazing, but Hermione and Ron ignored me.

"No." Ron told him. "It's a very rare trait."

"There is a reason that the symbol of Slytherin is a serpent." Hermione said, speaking finally. "Salazar Slytherin was most famous for being able to talk to snakes."

"People out there probably think that you're his great-great-great-great-grandson or something." Ron said.

"But I'm, not!" Harry protested.

"Harry, he lived about a thousand years ago." I told him.

"For all we know, you could be." Hermione said.

Harry stormed off, and Ron followed him.

"I don't think that he took that very well." Hermione told me.

I shook my head. "Not well at all. I suspect others won't be so kind. And—what about people who can _kind of_ speak Parseltongue?"

"There isn't any such thing." Hermione told me. "You either can or you can't. Why?"

"Could someone possibly be blocked from that power?" I asked.

"Sure." Hermione said.

"Just wondering." I added when she and Ron looked at me with confused looks. "I'm like that."

****

"Harry…" I began that evening in the Common Room.

I couldn't sleep, and neither could Harry I could see. I had been tossing and turning because I had thought about things—Scott could talk to snakes too. I never really thought it meant anything—I just thought he was hissing and the snake reacted—like a science project.

"Matty's a Parseltongue too." I told Harry.

"What?" Harry asked.

I nodded, and sat down next to him.

"Yeah. He's always been able to talk to snakes, I just never noticed before." I said.

"You never noticed that your own brother was ever speaking a different language?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "But if it makes you feel any better, Matty's also in Slytherin. It could be him and not Draco."

"Do you really believe that?" Harry asked.

I shook my head slowly. "Look, I don't think it's Draco _or_ Matty, but Draco isn't a Parseltongue."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Harry asked.

"Wouldn't you expect the heir of Slytherin to be a Parseltongue like Slytherin himself?" I asked.

"See, but that would make your mother an heir too." Harry pointed out.

I frowned. "I hadn't thought about that."

"You and Chelsea are in Gryffindor—your father was in Gryffindor, and your mother was in Ravenclaw—I don't see Scott as the heir of Slytherin even _if_ he is the only one of your immediate family in Slytherin." Harry told me, and he smiled. "But thanks for trying to make me feel better."

"Anytime." I said, smiling as well.

****

Good news was that Snape cancelled my detention. But it didn't help that the next day, Harry and I found Justin and Nearly Headless Nick Petrified. Harry and I had gone looking for Justin to explain that Harry hadn't done any harm, since Herbology was canceled, due to it snowing last night. We had asked other Hufflepuffs if they had seen him, and had been hearing horrible things that people made up to make Harry seem like the heir of Slytherin.

When we found Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, we were very surprised. Then Peeves came and started making a ruckus, and blaming Harry for the mess. McGonagall showed up and looked at us. Justin was being carried up the stairs, and a fan was used to waft Nearly Headless Nick up there as well.

"This way you two." McGonagall said.

"Professor, I swear I didn't—" Harry began.

"I swear Harry didn't—" I said.

"This is out of my hands." She said simply.

Then she led me to a very familiar place. It was the wall that hid the staircase to Dumbledore's office.

"Lemon drop." McGonagall said.

The password worked, and the staircase appeared, and Harry and I were led up to his office. We walked in, and as Harry went to have a word with the Sorting Hat, which I figured was because of his newly found talent, I went to say 'hi' to Fawkes. Fawkes nuzzled my hand, and then I walked over to the portrait on the wall that had talked to Dumbledore the day I had been horrible to Professor Snape.

"Well hello, Miss Langston. What brings you here?" He asked.

I smiled. "Well, the Chamber of Secrets actually." I told him.

The portrait gasped. "What do you know about it?"

"Only that someone has opened it again." I said.

"My, my. What shall we do?"

"I'm quite sure that Uncle Albus will take care of it. He did last time, didn't he?" I asked.

The portrait smiled, and then I caught Harry looking at Fawkes, and then he burst into flames, and Dumbledore came down the stairs.

"Professor…your bird…I couldn't do anything…" Harry stammered.

Dumbledore smiled and I walked over to them.

"About time too." Dumbledore said.

Harry looked horrified and Dumbledore and I laughed.

"Fawkes is a phoenix, Harry." I told him.

"Phoenixes burst into flames when it's time to die, and are reborn from the ashes. Watch him." Dumbledore said.

We watched as the head of a tiny, wrinkled, newborn bird popped out of the ashes. I smiled, and then looked up at Dumbledore.

"It's a shame you had to see him on his Burning day." Dumbledore said.

"He's really quite handsome normally. Brilliant red and gold plumage." I told Harry.

Dumbledore smiled at me, and then motioned for us to sit. He sat at his desk and looked at us. Before Dumbledore could say anything, Hagrid came in and kept telling Dumbledore that Harry and I had nothing to do with it. He had been talking to us when Justin and Nearly Headless Nick were petrified.

"I don't think that they had anything to do with it." Dumbledore told Hagrid.

"Oh. Right. I'll be going then." Hagrid said.

After Hagrid left, Dumbledore looked at the two of us.

"Is there anything that either of you want to tell me?" Dumbledore asked.

I was eager to tell him loads of things that I was keeping from him, but Harry didn't seem to want to tell him about the voices he had heard, or his suspicion of Draco. He shook his head, and I just slumped in my chair.

"No, nothing at all Professor." Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded. "All right Harry. You may go, but I need to talk to Lana."

Harry looked from him to me.

"I swear Lana didn't do it." Harry said.

Dumbledore smiled. "I know that, but I must speak with my niece."

Harry nodded, and I told him I'd meet him outside.

"Lana, I could tell that you have some things to tell me." Uncle Albus said.

I nodded. "I do."

"So?"

"So, you see, I kind of was out of the Commons after hours a few weeks ago, maybe a month, to meet up and talk with a few…let's just say people. I've also broken Per—I mean, Draco's nose because he called Hermione a Mudblood, and I've gotten into a few fights with Percy, one of which was at his home this summer, the other of which I said something I shouldn't have and he took ten points away from me." I said in one breath.

Dumbledore laughed. "Lana, slow down. I mean, I got it all, but you should learn to breathe when you talk."

I smiled. "Sorry, Uncle Albus."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"Don't worry about it. Just go and stay out of trouble." He told me.

"Wait. Is there anything that you want to tell me?" I asked.

"Like what?"

"Like about the attack on my parents."

Dumbledore shook his head.

"The Ministry is doing all that they can to find out why and who." Dumbledore told me.

"That's what my mother told me."

"She's a smart woman. Now go." He smiled at me.

"But—but—can't you tell me something I _don't _know?" I asked.

"I was at your christening. Go." He said.

"I had a christening?" I asked.

"Go." He said simply.

"Why is that important?" I asked again.

"You were the only child with a christening." He told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you were ugly, now get out of my office." My Uncle teased.

I smiled and nodded, and then walked out of the office and saw Harry waiting for me. I smiled, and we started to walk back to the Commons.

"So, what did Dumbledore have to say?" Harry asked me.

I smiled. "He wanted me to confess to some things this year. Nothing more."

Harry laughed. "What exactly did you have to confess?"

"Oh, breaking Percy's nose, sneaking out after hours…a lot. That kind of stuff." I said.

Harry shook his head. "Ron and I have had a bad influence on you and Hermione."

I laughed. "I guess so."

We went to bed, getting ready for the Polyjuice potion very soon.

****

Fred and George had been goofing around about Harry being the heir of Slytherin, but Ginny and Hermione were getting annoyed with it. Harry thought it quite funny, and Draco seemed unusually perturbed by it.

"It's because he's _bursting_ to say that it's really him." Ron said. "He hates to see Harry getting all of the credit for his dirty work."

"Not for long. The Polyjuice Potion is nearly ready. We'll be able to get a confession out of him any day now." Hermione said.

I nodded. "Now is when we should be thinking about getting things from them. Though that can be done that night."

Well, on Christmas morning, Hermione and I woke up and went to the Girl's Bathroom and added more lacewings to the potion.

"It's nice just being you, me, Chelsea, Harry, and the Weasleys, isn't it?" I asked Hermione.

She nodded. "Certainly makes it easier to do what we're doing." Hermione said. "But why aren't you with your mother?"

I smiled slightly. "Ministry things got in the way again. I get to stay here because it's safe since Dumbledore is here."

Hermione nodded. "Still think that there is something else up?"

I nodded. "It's just that my dad had to be murdered for a reason, didn't he?"

"Well, yes, but some things we're just not meant to know."

She was right. Uncle Albus and my mother were keeping things from me, because I wasn't supposed to know.

"Let's not talk about it just now. Let's just get on with our plan." I told her.

Hermione nodded and we smiled at each other.

"We should go wake up Harry and Ron." I said.

"But we can't go into their dorm." Hermione told me.

I shrugged. "Who really cares? It's not like they sleep naked or anything."

Hermione laughed. "All right, let's go."

When we got into the Boy's Dorm, I shook Harry, and Hermione shook Ron.

"You guys aren't supposed to be in here." Ron told us.

"Merry Christmas to you too." Hermione said.

"Forget that we shouldn't be here. We finished the potion, so Hermione and I think that we should use it tonight." I smiled at them.

We all went down to the Commons, and opened our presents. Harry and Ron were very happy with their presents from me. I gave Ron a glass chess set for Wizard's Chess, and he was so happy, that he ran over, hugged me, and kissed my cheek. Then he and I blushed, and Harry opened his present from me, which was a tray of sweets that I had made from my mother's recipes that she had sent to me earlier in the year. I had gotten Fred and George a book of spells that cause mayhem, Percy a book on how rules should always be followed, Ginny a new dress, Hermione a friendship bracelet that she absolutely adored, and Chelsea a T-Shirt that said "I Hate Lockhart" on the front with his picture crossed out, and on the back it said "Lockhart Schmockhart". Which, she had to keep out of sight of Ginny, Hermione, and Percy, because Ginny and Hermione loved him, and Percy would find making fun of teachers disgraceful. And to Scott I presented a little picture of him and me.

I was very happy with my gifts too. Scott bought me a picture of myself with, 'Great Sister' engraved on the frame, and my mother had sent me a picture of my dad and I, and another of the five of us. I smiled. Harry had bought me a black hat, so that next time I went out past 2 in the morning, I had more to add to my outfit. I hugged him, and then opened Ron's present, which was a book called _Flying with the Cannons_, which happened to be his favorite Quidditch team. I thanked him by kissing his cheek, and he blushed and excused himself from the room for a couple of minutes. Fred bought me a bracelet, and George bought me an anklet. Ginny got me a new pair of slippers, which I absolutely adored, and Mrs. Weasley sent me a hand-knitted sweater that was blue. Mr. Weasley had sent me a book on Dumbledore's greatest accomplishments, and Uncle Albus bought me a new Nimbus 2001, and Chelsea an orange cat which she named Ginger. I beamed.

Chelsea had made me an armband that read, "Torn Between Two Boys" and I snickered, and showed it to Hermione, who laughed as well. Hermione had bought me a new quill, which wrote in invisible ink, because she thought that it would help with my secret notes to Draco. Speaking of Draco, there was a small jewelry box from him, and when I opened it, it was a silver bracelet with dangling emeralds. Hermione beamed at it, and I blushed. I opened the note that was attached, and it just said, "_Tonight_". Very cryptic if you ask me. Percy hadn't bothered to get me anything. Hey, that was all right with me. I had broken the guys nose, and I wasn't so very nice to him.

"Lana." Percy said.

I turned around and smiled at him.

"Hi, Percy." I said.

Percy smiled too. "I got you something."

I was confused. I stood up and walked over to him. He handed me a book that was how to beat someone up without breaking his or her nose. I laughed, and hugged him. Somehow I would have to make that up to him.

When we went to breakfast that morning, Draco was making fun of Harry's sweater, but Harry was ignoring him. When I pointed to my sweater looking at him from my table, he shut up immediately. Then I noticed Percy's badge, and started to laugh. It said "Pinhead" instead of "Prefect".

"What are you laughing at? Everyone is laughing and I don't know why." Percy said.

He left the table, and then Fred leaned over to me.

"I bewitched it." He told me.

"Good one." I said.

Draco smiled at me when I looked back over at the Slytherin table, and I nodded to him when he asked if I had gotten the present and note. I dangled my arm and he spotted the bracelet, and then I looked straight at Hermione when she cleared her throat loudly.

"Hi." I said.

Hermione motioned for us to leave the Great Hall, and Harry and Ron started to complain because they hadn't even finished their third helpings of Christmas pudding yet. I smiled, and then we stood outside.

"Okay, we still need a little bit of the person we're changing into." Hermione said.

I nodded. "Like their hair."

Ron and Harry made disgusted faces.

"Do we have to?" Ron asked.

"Do you want to find out if it's Malfoy or not?" Hermione asked.

Ron and Harry nodded.

"Okay, fine." Harry agreed.

"Then whose hair are you two ripping out?" Ron asked.

"We've got ours." I told them.

"When Millicent and I were fighting, she left these on my robes." Hermione explained.

"And after I fought Pansy, I pulled some of her hair out. Thought it was a fitting end to the fight…actually…it just filled me with pleasure and gleeful malice." I said.

Harry and Ron laughed.

"Well, Hermione and I came up with these." I handed them the muffins.

"I've filled them with a simple sleeping potion. Just make sure that they eat these, and then pull out their hair and stick them in the broom closet." Hermione said.

"Hermione and I will have to explain to Draco that we have come back, because Pansy and Millicent left for the holiday." I told them.

"Really think that that will work?" Ron asked.

I shrugged. "I hope so."

Just then, an owl came and dropped a note into my hands.

"Why are you always getting notes?" Ron asked.

"Some are from Dumbledore, some are from other people. I can't help it if I'm social, Ron." I said.

I opened it, and it read:

_Lana,_

_Meet me on the third floor at ten._

_D.M._

I put it into my robes and shrugged.

"Nothing." I said.

Hermione and I went to the Girl's Bathroom, while Harry and Ron got what they needed from Crabbe and Goyle. Hermione and I poured the mixture into four tumblers, and waited for Ron and Harry to return. When they got there, we all added the hairs, and went into separate stalls to drink it down.

"Ready?" Hermione asked.

"Ready." Ron, Harry, and I said.

"One—Two—Three."

We all drank it, and I wanted to puke. It tasted like overcooked cabbage, and then my skin started to bubble like wax. Suddenly, it stopped, and I was like two inches shorter than I had been, and my hair was now short, straight, and black. I ran out of the stall, and the others hadn't gotten out yet. I decided to go and mess with Draco's head.

"I'm going to go and start it off, guys." I called.

My voice was now the voice of Pansy—I disgusted myself.

"Okay." Came Goyle's voice, which meant that it was Harry.

I ran out of the bathroom, and down to the Slytherin Common Room. Problem was, I didn't know the password. I guessed and hey, I was right.

"Pure-blood." I said.

The door opened, and I walked in, seeing Draco. I smiled, and he just looked at me funny.

"What the Hell are you doing here, Pansy?" Draco asked.

I smiled. "I came to see you, Draco."

Draco just nodded, and turned away.

"Oh, come on. We could go to our secret room and talk away from all ears." I hugged him, but he pushed me off of him.

"We don't have a secret room, Pansy." Draco said simply.

"We could." I said.

Draco looked disgusted. "Pansy, you know that I fancy Lana. Now please, leave me alone."

I pouted. "But Draco, she's not as pretty as me. And she's in Gryffindor. Nothing good can come from that. She's best friends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, for goodness sakes. Sure her brother Ma—Scott is in Slytherin with us, but even he's a Muggle lover."

Draco smirked. "Pansy, I hate to break it to you, but she's much prettier than you, and she can be friends with them and me. It's not like she favors any of us over the other. Plus, she's a lot stronger than the majority of the people in the school. Even some 7th years. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find Crabbe and Goyle."

He left the Common Room, and I looked around. I was rather excited to know that even with Pansy, Draco still fancied me more than her. He even stood up for me being friends with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I was going to go and look around a bit.

I know I wasn't supposed to, but I went up into the Boy's Dorm, and looked around. It was easy to spot Draco's bed, because his Nimbus 2001 was out in the open, and a picture of his parents was by his bed. I know it sounds really scary, but it smelled like Draco too. Then I checked out the Dorm for the Third Year boys, and I found Scott's bed because it had the picture of him, me, Mum, Dad, and Chels by his bed. There was also an unfinished piece of paper that had some things scribbled on it about me and how he was sorry he'd hurt me, and things like that. He was also almost willing to let me be with Draco if it made me happy. Maybe I had been too hard on him.

I went downstairs, and was sitting by the fire, when I heard a strange noise. I ignored it, and stood up and looked around some more. I had been looking around when I heard Draco come back in with Harry and Ron. I turned around and went to sit on the couch.

"You're still here?" Draco asked me.

I smiled. "Of course!"

"Let me get something for you guys." Draco said.

He went into the Boy's Dorm, and came out with a newspaper. The article was about the car that Ron had crashed into the Whomping Willow. Draco was getting a laugh out of it, and I couldn't use my Lana smile to get him to stop, because I looked like Pansy—damn Pansy and her lack of manipulative smiles—actually, that was good.

"You'd never know that the Weasley's were pure-bloods, the way that they act." Draco said.

Ron, or rather Crabbe, looked uneasy.

"What's wrong with you?" Draco asked.

"Stomachache." Ron grumbled.

"I wonder why the newspapers haven't reported the attacks yet. I suppose Dumbledore's trying to hush it up so that he won't get sacked. My father always did say that Dumbledore was the worst thing to ever happen to this place." Draco said.

"Oh did he now?" I asked.

The boys all looked at me. Harry and Ron seemed to be annoyed that I had said something like that.

"What's up with you, Pansy?" Draco asked.

"Just don't think you should be talking about your girlfriend's uncle like that." I said.

I stopped. Schnizzlewitts and Shiitake Mushrooms!

"I never said that I agreed with him!" Draco said. "And Lana's not my girlfriend! I just fancy her, is all." But Draco was blushing now.

Well that helped my case a little bit. Then we all turned to see Scott come in through the portrait—CRAP! Well, time to take my character to the next level.

"Hey, Scott." I said happily, wiggling my fingers at him.

"I heard rumors you left for break—I had SO wished they were true." Scott said, turning to go to his Dorm Room.

"That's so hurtful!" I told him.

Scott looked back at me as he was walking away, and stared at me for a moment.

"Say that again?" He asked me.

I paused. "That's rude!"

Scott got a look of realization on his face that made my stomach queasy.

"May I talk to…Pansy…for a moment, please?" Scott asked.

"No." I replied.

"Pansy!" Scott said, and I could tell he was losing his patience.

I turned to Harry and Ron. "How's my hair?"

"PANSY!" Scott roared.

"Oh my Goddess! I'm coming!" I cried.

"Say that again?" Scott asked.

I sighed, got up and walked over to him as Harry, Draco, and Ron sat there looking at each other, trying to overhear the conversation, but Scott and I talked low enough for them not to pick up on anything.

"Lana, what are you doing here, looking like Pansy?" Scott asked, a little angry.

I was slightly stunned. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh don't play dumb with me, Alana Renee Langston." He said.

"Scottward Matthew Langston do not say my full name—damn it!" I told him. "I was going to yell at you for saying my full name in front of Pansy but—how did you know?"

"Your speak is easy to pick up on." Scott said shrugging.

"You're so hurtful!" I told him.

"Come again?" Scott asked, smirking a little.

"You horrible little man." I hissed, and then plastered a smile on my face and went to go sit down again. "Continue." I told Draco.

"I can't believe that people really think that Potter is the heir of Slytherin! I mean he's got a Mudblood as a friend." Draco said.

Harry and Ron were on the edge of their seats waiting for a confession.

"I just wish _I_ knew who it was!" Draco said.

"But you must have some idea of who it is." Harry said.

"You know I don't Goyle! How many times do I have to tell you that? My father won't tell me _anything_ about the last time it was opened, except that a Mudblood died. If things keep going as they are, it's bound to happen again. I hope it's Granger." Draco said.

Ron and Harry were about to kill him, well Ron clenched Crabbe's fists, and Harry shot him a warning glance. I wanted to slap him, but I had to refrain from blowing my cover.

"Did the person who opened it last time get caught?" Harry asked Draco.

"What? Oh, yeah, he was expelled." Draco said. "He's probably still in Azkaban."

"Azkaban?" Harry asked.

"Yes. The _Wizard Prison_, Goyle." Draco said. "Honestly, if you were any slower, you'd be going backwards. My father tells me to just let the heir of Slytherin do what he's doing, that the school needs ridding of Mudbloods, but I'm not so sure."

"I thought you wanted Granger dead." I said.

"It was a joke Pansy. God, you're as slow as Goyle." Draco told me.

He was sure cruel to me…well Pansy…actually, me in Pansy's form. The point is, what was his problem?

"You know the Ministry of Magic raided our manor last week? Luckily they didn't find much. Father's got some _very_ valuable Dark Arts stuff under the drawing-room floor—" Draco said.

"Ho!" Said Ron.

Before we could say anything else, we realized that we were starting to turn back into ourselves. We ran out of the Commons, after Ron said he was getting medicine for his stomach. I could feel myself growing a couple of inches, and my robes getting a little too small for me, since Hermione had gotten us all spare robes to fit into. When we were ourselves, we dropped off the robes, and Ron turned to me.

"Draco's girlfriend?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"I knew that Pansy hated me, and that Draco fancied me, so I used it to try and fit her role. It worked didn't it?" I asked.

They nodded. They had actually bought it.

"I mean, seriously, who would date Draco?" I asked.

They laughed, but then Harry looked at me.

"And um…what did Scott want?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "He just knew it was me. No biggie."

They looked dumbfounded.

"WHAT?!?" They asked me.

"Don't have a cow. He didn't know you two were…well you. And even if he did, he wouldn't tell anyone." I explained.

They looked slightly less uneasy and so we headed to Myrtle's bathroom. When we got there, I knocked on Hermione's stall.

"Hermione?" I asked.

"Go away!" Hermione said.

"Ooooh! Wait until you see it! It's horrible!" Myrtle told us.

"What's up? You have Millicent's nose or something?" Ron asked.

"The hair…the hair…it was a cat hair!" Hermione cried.

She came out, and we saw that she had a tail, fur, ears, and yellow eyes.

"Oh." I said.

"Millicent must have a cat! The potion's not meant for animal transformations!" Hermione cried.

"We'll take you to the Hospital Wing." Harry said. "Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions…"

I nodded, and Harry, Ron, and I led her to the Hospital Wing.


	11. Friends Over Crushes

Once Hermione was situated, I checked my watch. It was 9:40, and I hadn't even changed yet. I excused myself, and ran to the Commons. I changed into the same outfit that I had worn when I had met, Fred, George, Oliver, and Draco in the same night, and got to the third floor at 10:10—that means I was wearing the black skirt, white sweater, white flip flops, and a black headband.

"I thought you weren't going to show." Draco said.

"Of course I was going to show. I just got a little tied up." I admitted.

"Where were you?"

"Taking Hermione to the Hospital Wing."

"Is she all right?"

I nodded. "Just a potion gone bad."

He smiled. "Well, I have something to show you."

He took my hand, and led me up to the seventh floor, and into a room that I had never noticed before. There was a fireplace and Vanilla scented candles, and hot chocolate. I smiled.

"It's amazing." I told him.

"I was hoping to help you with this whole…"

"My father dying?"

He nodded.

"Thanks, Draco. Oh, and thanks for the bracelet as well. It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it."

"So, your Christmas was good?" I asked him.

He nodded. "I opened my presents, talked to Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy, and then came and fixed this up a bit."

"Pansy? I thought that she left." I said.

"So did I. Came back though. Was acting rather strange."

I smiled. "Well, she likes you, a lot."

"I know." He said.

I smiled, but then I stopped smiling and sat on the floor. I just couldn't stop thinking about my father and how so many things just didn't make sense.

"What's wrong, Lana?" Draco asked.

"It just doesn't make sense." I told him.

"What doesn't?"

"My father's death. I mean, no one will tell me what he was doing, or how he died, or who exactly killed him, or why. I just know that someone knows why, but no one wants to tell me. What was so secret? And then it makes me wonder why I was brought up as a Muggle all of these years, when my parents went to Hogwarts. Why did we live in America?"

I sat down in front of the fireplace, and Draco sat down next to me.

"Lana, I'm sure that there is a good explanation for all of it." He told me.

"I'm sure there is too, but why won't anyone tell it to me? Is it so secret that I can't know how my own father died and why?" I asked.

Draco handed me a cup of hot chocolate.

"Lana, they'll explain everything to you when the time comes." He told me. "You just need to be patient, and careful."

I nodded. I took the hot chocolate, and took a sip. I smiled. He had put vanilla ice cream in it instead of marshmallows to make it creamy, and cool it down.

"This is really good." I said.

Draco smiled. "Good, but you need to go back to the Commons. From what you told me, you need to stay safe."

I stood up. "I guess so."

"Just, keep me informed."

I smiled. "Of, course."

Draco walked me back to the Commons, and told me to keep the hot chocolate. I hugged him and went through the portrait. Harry was sitting on the couch, and I smiled and sat next to him.

"Can't sleep either?" I asked him.

"Nope." He said.

"So why can't you sleep?" I asked him.

"Thinking about how Malfoy isn't responsible, so who is?" Harry asked.

I shrugged. "We are kind of back at square one, huh?"

Harry nodded. "Still thinking about your father?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I mean, no one will tell me what he was doing before and when he died, or how he died, or who exactly killed him, or why. I just know that someone knows why, and that someone is my mother and Uncle Albus, and the people at the Ministry. I know this, yeah, but no one wants to tell me. What was so secret? And then it made me wonder why I was brought up as a Muggle all of these years, when my parents went to Hogwarts. Why did we live in America? I just don't know who _will_ answer my questions."

Harry smiled. "It does sound weird, but they'll have to tell you sooner or later."

I nodded. "I'm just going with later."

Harry hugged me, and I smiled and closed my eyes. It was nice to know how many friends that I really had. I guess I could get through this year all right. I didn't know what I would do without them, especially since my mother was deep into something at the Ministry that I wanted to be a part of. I wanted the answers to my questions.

****

"Hermione, why do you need these?" Harry asked as he set her books on her bed.

"Yeah. If I had grown a tail and whiskers, I would have just taken a rest." Ron added.

"Nonsense Ron. I have to keep up with things." Hermione told him.

I smiled and nodded. "Besides, it's been several weeks now and it's a new term. She would be very behind if she didn't know what was going on."

Ron took a card from under Hermione's pillow which he had seen part of. It was from Lockhart. Ron looked disgusted.

"You sleep with this under your _pillow_?" He asked.

Hermione looked desperate to change the subject, so I did.

"If Hermione didn't keep up, she'd be worse than you Ron." I said. "Not that you're bad, but your wand needs repair."

Hermione nodded too. "Anyways, Lana is helping me catch up with things at dinner. She could just be tutoring Draco during that time but..."

I looked up abruptly at Hermione, whose face was now bright red even though it still had some cat hair on it, and she mouthed an apology to me.

"You're tutoring Draco?!?" Ron asked me.

He seemed angry, and Harry looked disappointed and hurt that I hadn't told him before now. He hated Draco, and I of all people was tutoring him occasionally.

"Well…" I began. "Dumbledore thought it would be good for him. I could keep him in line, and he could get his grades up. Nothing huge."

"If it's not huge, than why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked me.

I blushed. "I didn't tell you because I knew that this is how you would react. Angry, and hurt, and I didn't want to see that on your faces."

"But you told Hermione." Harry said slowly and softly.

I looked at him and wanted to cry. He was really hurt by this.

"Hermione walked in on me after a session with him. I had to explain it to her." I told them.

"But you two knew about something and you didn't even bother to tell us!" Ron said.

"I'm never being Pansy again." I said, trying to change the subject.

They all gave me weird looks.

"Why?" Hermione asked me.

"Because I have a slightly larger chest than her…after changing back into me, I realized how small her robes were—they were _very_ constricting!" I said.

Ron was still mad as Hermione laughed, telling me no wonder I was pulling on my robes—I was trying to _breathe_.

"Ron…" I said, but he held up his hand.

"Lana, don't even try." He told me.

I shut my mouth, and Hermione took my hand.

"Ron, don't be so hard on her. Dumbledore thought that it was for the best." Hermione said.

Ron just shook his head and left.

"I'll talk to him." Harry said.

He turned around, and I took his hand.

"I'm sorry, Harry. Really. Next time I'll tell you absolutely everything. I just didn't want to hurt you, but this just seemed to hurt you even more." I added slowly. Even though I hadn't told him everything just yet, like where I was last Christmas…

Harry turned around slowly and I let go of his hand.

"I know Lana. Don't worry about it." Harry forced a smile, and left after Ron.

"Well that went well." I said cheerfully.

So I was faking the cheerful, but what else was I going to say?

"I'm sorry, Lana." Hermione told me.

I smiled at her. "It's actually better this way. More things out in the open if you ask me."

Hermione nodded, and then Madam Pomfrey showed up and told Hermione that she needed to take a dose of her nightly medicine, so I left. I was going to go up to the Commons and do the homework that Snape had given us. For me it was easy, just very tedious. When I got up to the Commons, and looked around, but Harry and Ron weren't there. I called up the stairs to the boys, and Oliver came down.

"Is Harry or Ron up there?" I asked him.

He shook his head.

"Is something wrong, Lana?"

"No, Oliver. I just got Ron a little angry at me, and I wanted to fix it."

Oliver smiled. "Well, I'm sure they'll be back soon. No one can stay mad at you for long."

I hugged him. "Thanks Oliver."

"You're welcome, Lana."

We smiled at each other, and then I heard Harry and Ron, who were talking about a strange diary that they had found in Myrtle's bathroom. Oliver went back outside after giving me a good luck thumbs up, and Ron stood there and looked at me. I waved and smiled.

"Long time, no see." I said. "So, this diary that you found in Myrtle's bathroom, do you know who it belongs to?"

"Tom Riddle, whoever that is." Harry said.

Ron was still just looking at me. But when I was over the fact that he still wasn't speaking to me, I realized that the name was familiar. I was sure that my father had talked about a Tom Riddle before. I bet I could figure it out if I asked my mother to send me some of dad's things, if it wasn't too hard on her.

"Well, I might be able to help with that." I told them. "My dad has something about Tom Riddle at our house somewhere. Well, he had something at our house." I added slowly.

I guess it still hadn't set in, but would it really truly ever set in? Ron actually smiled at me, and hugged me. I hadn't expected it, really. He walked up to me, and hugged me. He knew that I was feeling bad. And then Harry came up and hugged me too, and I just stood there, not knowing really how to react.

"I'm sorry, Lana. I got carried away, and I shouldn't have yelled at you." Ron said.

I smiled, and hugged him back, since he hadn't let go yet.

"It's okay Ron. I should have been truthful in the first place." I said.

Harry and Ron finally let go and I smiled at them.

"I will tell you guys absolutely everything now." I promised. "Now, about that diary."

"Well, if you can get any information about it, tell us." Harry said.

I nodded. "I promise that I will."

Ron smiled too. "Good, because we all just made up, and we're trusting you to keep your word. _Everything_."

I laughed. "Everything." I repeated. "I promise that I will tell you everything from this point on."

****

Hermione was perfect and let out of the Hospital Wing. The day that she was let out, I had run to talk to her. I met her on her way out of the Hospital Wing.

"Hermione!" I cried.

Then I stopped, and was out of breath. Hermione hugged me with a huge smile on her face, and then she walked with me up to the Gryffindor Tower.

"How do you think sleeping in the Tower will be? I mean you've been in the Hospital Wing for several weeks! A month and a half even!" I said.

Hermione laughed. "It will be wonderful. Finally back with everyone. With you and Harry and Ron and not locked up in the Hospital Wing all furry, with whiskers and a tail."

"But you were just so cute!" I said.

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Very funny, Lana." She told me.

I laughed. "I thought so, but I was kidding. Oh, we found a diary that we think you should look at. We can't figure it out. There's nothing written on it, at least it looks empty, but Harry and I are convinced that there's something on its pages."

When we got up to the Commons, Hermione tried some revealing spells, but it was all to no avail. We just couldn't figure out how to reveal what was on its pages.

"Maybe there's nothing there." Ron told us. "I think we should stop trying."

I smiled. "Maybe we just need to think of new ways to get the print to show up. Let's just not try tonight."

"This Tom Riddle is probably too smart for any of us anyways. He was a Prefect, and Head Boy…probably top in all of his classes too." Harry said.

Hermione and I looked at him.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Hermione told him.

I nodded. "Hermione and I are going to go to bed now. Why don't you guys figure this out?"

I wasn't using a rude tone when I said it, but Hermione and I were kind of hurt by his last comment. Harry and Ron said nothing to stop us, so we just went up to our Dorm, and went to bed.


	12. The Stories That Bond

The days at Hogwarts were growing really cheerful now, since there had been no more attacks since Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, and Madam Pomfrey was pleased to report that the mandrakes were almost mature enough to help bring those that were petrified back to life. The only problem with that was that Lockhart had come up with a Valentines Day "surprise" for all of us.

On the 14th, when we walked into the Great Hall, Lockhart was in bright pink robes, and his blonde hair was resting perfectly on his head. The girls were swooning, and Chelsea looked as if she was going to be sick, but seemed weirdly happy too.

"You've got to be kidding me." Ron whispered to Harry and as we walked slowly behind Hermione to take our seats.

I nodded. "I'm with you Ron. I mean, he's wearing pink robes, how can you take him seriously?"

Harry smiled. "You can't."

We laughed, and Hermione looked back at us. I smiled innocently and waved slightly, and she smiled and turned back around obviously not knowing what we were really talking about.

We sat down at the table, and brushed heart shaped confetti off of our breakfast. Ron was looking more disgusted by the moment, and Harry and I were about to get up and just leave the room, whereas Hermione had been overcome with giggles. I didn't understand this infatuation with Lockhart. He was _too_ perfect.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart greeted us. "I'd like to thank the 46 of you that sent me valentines, and I would like to introduce you to these."

Lockhart clapped his hands, and little dwarfs with golden wings appeared.

"These are my card-carrying cupids, who will be delivering valentines to you all throughout the day. I'm also sure that my colleagues would like to be a part of this, so I encourage you to ask Professor Snape about whipping up Love Potions, or Professor Flitwick to show you how to do an Entrancing Enchantment." Lockhart continued.

We all looked at Lockhart, and then I caught a glance at Snape, who looked like he was going to force feed someone poison if they asked him anything about love potions. I just smiled, and then Ron and Harry looked at me like I had crossed over the line. I laughed.

"I'm still here. I promise. It's just that Snape looks ready to kill someone if they even so much as say the word Love Potion, or love for that matter. And Flitwick. He has his head buried in his hands." I told them.

They looked over at Flitwick and Snape, and smiled too.

"You're right." Ron said. "Very entertaining."

"You didn't really think that now of all times, I would fall for Lockhart, did you?" I asked them.

Harry and Ron shook their heads quickly.

"Of course not." Harry said quickly.

"Now who's not telling the whole truth?" I asked.

They blushed, and then we all got up and left the Great Hall.

"Please Hermione, tell me that you weren't one of the 46." Ron said.

Hermione blushed and reached into her bag.

"I need to find my schedule." She said quickly.

Ron and Harry were shaking their heads, and then Chelsea came up to us.

"I gave Lockhart a valentine. I was one of the 46." She said.

My jaw dropped. "You didn't."

"I did." She said.

"You betrayed me." I told her.

She laughed. "It was _hate_ mail, Lana."

I took a deep breath and smiled.

"Good. Wait, why didn't I think of that?" I asked.

It was a good thing that Hermione had slipped out of our circle, and was heading to class. I was about to say something to Ron and Harry, when Draco showed up with a note and handed it to me.

"Read it. Out loud or in private. Just please read it." He said.

I blushed, and he just walked away after smiling his smile at me. I turned back to Ron and Harry who were smiling.

"Interesting." Ron said.

"Oh come off it Ron. Let's get to class." I told him.

"You could…read it out loud." Ron hinted.

I smiled. "I could, but I'm going to class now."

"Please?" Ron asked.

I started to skip down the hall.

"You'll have to catch me first, Ron!" I called.

Ron started after me, and Harry came quickly too. I accidentally ran into Professor McGonagall, who couldn't help but smile at us.

"Walk, please, Miss Langston." She said.

It was a little late though, because then Ron ran into me, and Harry into him.

"You seem to have followers." McGonagall added to me.

I blushed, and walked into class, quickly sitting next to Hermione.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked.

"Draco handed me a note in front of them, and they want their hands on it." I explained.

She giggled. "Well, they'll get their way sooner or later."

I nodded. "And I'm going to bet sooner."

****

The whole day, we were getting our valentines from Lockhart, and for hours, Ron and Harry were trying to get their hands on my note from Draco, which I hadn't even read yet. Ron was even willing to wrestle me for it, when Harry mentioned that I was ticklish, and I had to run out of the Great Hall during lunch, but Ron ran after me, and tackled me down to the ground.

"Let me read it. Please, Lana?" He asked.

I couldn't resist his cute face. I blushed, and reached into my pocket. I handed it to him, and he beamed, and got off of me. He opened it in front of me, and read it out loud. It read:

_To My Dear Lana,_

_Happy Valentine's Day._

_I hope this reaches you in good health, but of_

_Course I wouldn't give it to you if you weren't_

_Because I'll give it to you in person._

_So, I also wanted to ask you if maybe you_

_Would want to meet me on the third floor_

_Tonight. Maybe at like 9ish? I don't know what your friends_

_Will say, but I want to prove to you that I am not a_

_Horrible person._

_Love D.M._

Ron looked from the letter to me, and then back to the letter. He even read it over again, and then he laughed.

"Draco fancies you." He said.

"You say it like it's impossible." I told him slowly.

Ron blushed. "Of course it's not impossible. I just find it funny."

I smiled. "Nice recovery."

He blushed even more, and then handed the note back to me. I smiled, and put it in my pocket.

"I never thought that Draco would even think about trying to get through Harry and I to you." Ron said absent-mindedly.

I blushed and stood up. Ron seemed a bit embarrassed about what he had said, and turned away from me.

"Wow. I didn't know that you two felt that way. Is there something that you want to tell me?" I asked him.

Ron turned around to me and smiled.

"Lana, did you ever really doubt that we fancied you?" He asked.

I nodded. "I didn't think you did. I mean we are all very good friends. But of course then you were _really_ upset about my lying to you. Is that part of the reason why you were so upset?"

Ron nodded. "You were spending time with Draco."

I smiled, and hugged Ron.

"Ron, I promise you that Draco will never come between our friendship, no matter what. And you can count on the fact that I will tell you absolutely everything from this point on because I value our friendship so much. You just need to do the same. Tell me things, like when things bug you and why, and what's on your mind and stuff. There are harmless things though that you and Harry will only want to tell each other, and things that I will only want to tell Hermione, but we can try and be completely up front because we're all such good friends." I told him.

Ron smiled. "I would like that a lot, Lana."

I let go of him, realizing that I probably should have let go of him ¾ of a speech ago. I blushed, and Ron sat next to the statue, blushing as well.

"So how about we meet tonight and talk things over?" Ron asked.

I smiled. "Well, it would have to be after I see Draco. I can't just let his valentine go to waste, you know. That would be…"

"Mean?" He asked and I nodded. "Well you're anything but mean, so you have to go."

"Thanks, Ron."

Ron smiled, and was about to say something else when Hermione and Harry showed up.

"So, did Ron win?" Harry asked.

I laughed. "Right, because that would happen."

Ron laughed too. "I can't beat Lana."

"No, he won. He kind of had the upper hand when he tackled me to the ground." I admitted.

Hermione laughed. "Well, I guess he read the note then."

I nodded. "If you guys want to read it, feel free."

I was taking it out of my pocket when Harry shook his head.

"Nah. We don't need to read it. It's your letter. So Draco fancies you, it's quite obvious, and…" Harry trailed off, and I couldn't hear anything anymore.

"What?" I asked.

Harry shook his head. Hermione was confused, but I figured that I knew what was going on. I just smiled, and we all started to walk to our last class of the day, when a dwarf, cupid, thing showed up. Ron, Harry, and I were the only ones who hadn't gotten singing valentines that day, but this one was coming for Harry.

Harry tried to get away, since Ginny and Chelsea had suddenly joined us with other First Years, but he couldn't the Dwarf got to him, and ended up ripping Harry's bag trying to get Harry to stay where he was. The singing valentine went like so:

_His eyes are green as a fresh pickled toad,_

_His hair is as dark as a blackboard._

_I wish he was mine, he's really divine,_

_The hero that conquered the Dark Lord._

Percy pushed his way through the crowd of First Years that had appeared, and stopped abruptly when he saw me. I smiled rather innocently, but he didn't fall for it. Then Draco showed up and tried to take Riddle's diary from Harry. Okay, so he picked it up off of the floor because of Harry's broken bag, and he opened it.

"Draco, stop." I said. "Just leave it alone."

"I just want to see what Potter's written in his little diary." Draco told me.

I looked sternly at him, and he got the hint, but before he could set it down, Harry pulled out his wand and yelled, "_Expelliarmus!"_

Draco went flying backwards as the diary flew in the opposite direction of him, and Percy yelled at Harry for using magic in the corridors, but backed away a bit, when I came to help Harry up off of the ground since the Dwarf that had been sitting on him so he could deliver the singing valentine, had left.

Ron had caught the diary, and Ginny passed through us to go to her classroom. Draco told her that Harry didn't like her valentine, and before I could say or do anything, Chelsea walked up to him and I hurried behind her, afraid of what she might potentially do to harm him.

"YOU CAN'T GO AROUND MAKING FUN OF MY FRIEND!" She yelled. "YOU'RE SO FULL OF YOUR OWN CRAP MALFOY!"

Chelsea was about to punch him, but I stopped her hand and shook my head.

"To your classroom." I said angrily. "NOW!"

Chelsea's eyes realized after a moment that I was serious, and turned around and went into her classroom. I turned around to Harry and Ron who were stunned.

"Why did you stop her? Malfoy deserved it." Ron said.

I smiled. "But no one's allowed to punch Draco but me."

"Yeah. If someone's going to punch me, I want it to be her." Draco said.

Then Draco turned and went off without so much as another word, and Harry and Ron laughed.

"Well, Malfoy's not too bright right now." Ron said.

"Is he ever?" Harry asked.

Hermione sighed. "Guys, we're like ten minutes late for class. Let's go…now."

In Charms, I was sitting next to Hermione and we were doing exceptionally well, but I was also really intent on trying to figure out what Harry was telling Ron, because I couldn't hear him, but it was just something about the diary I supposed. I went back to work.

****

That evening, Harry, George, Fred, Ron, Hermione, and I were all alone in the Commons. I was feeling kind of relieved, because Fred and George were no longer making fun of me, but singing the valentine that Harry had gotten, which is why Chelsea and Ginny had gone up.

Then Oliver came down, grabbed something, and went back up. That was when Fred and George decided to focus attention on me again. It was only 7:50, so I had a long ways to go until I met up with Draco.

"So, Lana how is life?" Fred asked me.

He walked over to the chair I was sitting in, and sat next to it on the floor, looking up at me. George did the same, and then they both set their hands on the arms. I smiled awkwardly.

"Life is great. When it gives you lemons, just throw them back. Forget lemonade. Or just squirt the juice in your enemy's eyes." I told them.

They laughed.

"Very good." George told me. "I bet Oliver would like that one."

I rolled my eyes.

"So this is what this is about. Oliver the Daring Young Keeper, who has ensnared the heart of an Innocent Chaser without trying to seek it, and will never be rid of the sudden growth, because nothing could tear her away. Oh the tragedy!" I set my hand on my forehead and sighed dramatically.

Fred rolled his eyes too.

"Well, the Triumphant Beaters who have searched the globe far and wide for a girl, have found her in an armchair in a secluded room by the fire." George said.

He was obviously trying to be clever, but it wasn't working in his favor. Okay, so he was mocking me, but I was trying to make myself sound cool.

"Then the Innocent Chaser tells the Triumphant Beaters that her heart belongs to another, and that the only way to it would be to slay the Sly Caretaker." I continued.

"But the Triumphant Beaters are beaten to the kill by a Handsome Onlooker who slays the Sly Caretaker and wins over the Innocent Chaser. She never forgets her first love, Oliver the Daring Young Keeper, but finds happiness with a close friend." Ron interrupted.

Fred and George turned around to see Ron, and then smiled slyly and turned to me again.

"But the Daring Young Keeper, Oliver comes to the rescue of the Innocent Chaser, and tears her away from the Handsome Onlooker, and whisks her away to his palace by the sea." Hermione told me.

"Yes, but that is not the end, for a Charismatic Seeker decides that the Innocent Chaser is the only girl for him, so he takes her away from the Daring Young Keeper, and keeps her hidden in a castle in the mountains." Harry said suddenly.

I was so confused now. Each guy was talking about an Innocent Chaser—which was obviously me—but they were all stealing me from each other. Very scary at this point. Okay, so it was flattering, and I was blushing feverishly.

"But the Innocent Chaser is tired of being passed back and forth between men, so she finally runs away and ends up in a forest." I continued, though it's _very_ obvious how happy the Innocent Chaser _is_ right now.

Ha, I was getting out of it. Or so I thought.

"But the Innocent Chaser runs into the Daring Young Keeper, who has been keeping tabs on her ever since she left his palace by the sea." Oliver's voice said.

I was cornered now. Everyone was chiming into this useless, and pointless story, which was anything but intelligent.

"The Triumphant Beaters also find her, and tell the Daring Young Keeper that they will fight him for the hand of the innocent Chaser." Fred said.

"But the Innocent Chaser refuses to have the victor, because she believes the fighting to be pointless, and is torn between several possible men." I told them.

"And just as the Triumphant Beaters and the Daring Young Keeper are about to fight, the Innocent Chaser is kidnapped by the Devilishly Handsome Seeker who is the rival of the Charismatic Seeker." Hermione said.

"But the Charismatic Seeker is onto the Devilishly Handsome Seeker, and intercepts the kidnapping, and whisks the Innocent Chaser off to the castle to reside once more." Harry put in.

"But the Charismatic Seeker was not expecting the presence of the Handsome Onlooker at the castle, and he charms the Innocent Chaser and she leaves with him willingly back to a secluded hut in the forest." Ron added.

"And again, the Innocent Chaser runs away, but ends up cornered in the forest by all of her…let's say abductors." I said cheerfully.

"So the Daring Young Keeper, the Triumphant Beaters, the Handsome Onlooker, the Charismatic Seeker, and the Devilishly Handsome Seeker all asked the Innocent Chaser to choose one of them." Oliver added.

I thought for a moment. I could choose one to fit the story, or I could just excuse myself and _try_ to get through Fred and George, not to mention Oliver, Harry and Ron, and fail.

"The Innocent Chaser is at a loss of what to do, because she loves all the men a lot. The Daring Young Keeper was a wonderful listener and the Triumphant Beaters had wonderful senses of humor. The Handsome Onlooker and the Charismatic Seeker were always up to lend a hand or a hug to the Innocent Chaser, and the Devilishly Handsome Seeker is always up to surprising the Innocent Chaser and giving her trinkets of affection." I stopped there and then sighed. "But the Innocent Chaser can not choose between the six, because she does not want to crush anyone's heart, and so she takes a dagger that is lying close and plunges it through her heart, and the six men lived happily ever after. The End."

I smiled cheerfully and the rest of them stared at me in disbelief of the way that I ended the story, and Hermione suddenly laughed out loud.

"You should videotape that story and show it every Christmas." Hermione laughed.

I laughed too. "That would be awesome."

"I think you missed the point of this story," Oliver told me.

I stood up and waded my way through the people who had gathered around the chair that I was sitting in. I shook my head.

"No. And now I realize just how many possible stalkers and abductors I have. Goodnight all! Sleep well!" I blew them all kisses.

Hermione laughed, and I ran up to the Dorm. A few moments after I got up there, I heard George and Fred start singing Harry's valentine, and Harry excused himself. I lay on my bed, and went over the story again, laughing silently to myself.

****

"Lana! It's 8:50!" Ron called to me.

I had fallen asleep in my bed, and I turned over and looked around the Dorm. I was the only one in it. I stood up and walked over to the doorway.

"Why should I care if it's 8:50?" I asked Ron.

I yawned, and he shook his head. He was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

"Note in your pocket. 9 o'clock. 3rd floor." Ron said.

"Oh my goddess." I said suddenly.

Ron looked quizzically at me, and I ran down the stairs to him, but I was stopped by the sound of an owl. I turned around, and Draco's owl dropped a note in my hand. It read:

_Lana,_

_Snape is watching us all like a hawk,_

_Thinking that one of us is the heir of Slytherin,_

_So we can't meet tonight. Maybe some other_

_Night. I'll send another owl later._

_Love D.M._

I handed it to Ron who looked especially eager to read it. He smiled a little bit.

"That gives us more time to talk like we were going to." Ron said.

I smiled too. "I guess it does."

Then I saw Oliver, Fred, and George going to their Dorms and I waved to them.

"Have a good night's sleep." I told them.

They turned around and smiled at me.

"Don't shove any daggers through your heart while we're asleep." George said.

I blushed. "Because you guys love me?"

"No. Because it's a mess to clean up." Fred told me.

I faked a hurt expression, but laughed with them.

"Let's go with what you said before, Lana." Oliver said sweetly.

Ron cleared his throat, and the three of them went upstairs.

"You should really have that checked, Ron." I joked.

I walked over to the chair that I had been sitting in before that evening, and set to work on my homework. I would occasionally laugh because I was thinking about our ridiculous story, but then I noticed Ron _not_ doing his homework.

"You know Ron, if you don't do the Potions homework, Snape is going to make you regret it. If you want though, you can copy mine. Just don't tell Hermione." I said.

Ron beamed, and looked over my things, as I finished McGonagall's homework, which I had started before the story, and then I worked on Charms homework, happy that it was a very small amount, since the interruptions from Lockhart's valentines had made some teachers just want to stop all together.

"Lana?" Ron asked.

I looked up from the Charms homework.

"Yes, Ron?"

"Are we going to sit and do homework, or talk?"

I laughed. "Just let me finish this last line, and we can talk. I just want to get my homework out of the way so that I don't have to worry about it anymore."

Ron nodded. I finished my last line on the parchment, and then gathered up my things in a neat pile, and sat in the armchair waiting for Ron to realize that I was done now. He was busy copying my Potions homework, and had already finished McGonagall's, which was very _not _like Ron.

Ron looked up and realized that I was looking at him. He blushed.

"So this whole you and Harry fancying me thing started…when?" I asked slowly.

Ron smiled. "When do you think?"

I shrugged. "Really, I didn't even expect it. It was a total surprise to me, which shows that you guys are very good at keeping it a secret."

"Well, I did this summer, and Harry did after he got hit with the Bludger and you stayed with him in the Hospital Wing." Ron told me.

I nodded. "Goodness. I guess that story had a _lot_ more to do with all of us than I thought."

Ron nodded too. "More than you think."

"The stalker abductor thing was a joke." I said quickly.

Ron laughed. "I know that."

I was relieved. "Good."

"I just meant that we all have a slight thing for you so to speak."

I blushed. "Goodness. I really didn't even think about it. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I just want to get through exams, and find out who this T. M. Riddle is…Oh my goddess!" I exclaimed.

Ron was confused, but I ran up to the Dorm and came back out with a small package. I had completely forgotten that my mother had sent me things on T. M. Riddle. My dad had had a treasury of information about T. M. Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets. My mother had been reluctant to send it to me, but had agreed when I had told her that it was just for research and I wanted to be the top of my class in the department.

"My mother sent me things on the Chamber of Secrets and T. M. Riddle!" I told Ron. "I will totally look this stuff over, and then get back to you guys on it. You go talk to Harry and get some sleep. I will too."

Ron nodded, and took his stuff up to the Dorm, and I was about to go and get to bed myself, but then I realized that Ron hadn't even started the Charms homework, so I should go and give mine to him. I went up the stairs to the Boy's Dorm, and walked in, and covered my eyes. Harry and Ron were changing.

"Sorry, guys. Just wanted to give this to Ron." I said.

I handed the parchment out, and someone took it from me.

"You should have learned to knock by now." Ron teased.

I blushed, and removed my hands from my eyes. Everyone was fully clothed! I smiled and Harry did too, though we were all blushing. Now I could officially tell people that I had seen Ron and Harry without their shirts on. Not really something to brag about though. Now let's just add Oliver to this list…never mind.

"Well, I wasn't thinking." I admitted.

"Oh, by the way, Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets 50 years ago. Goodnight, Lana." Harry said.

My jaw dropped. "Wait. You can't just drop a bomb on me like that and then go to bed." I protested.

Harry was about to answer when Neville sat up and looked at me.

"What are you doing in the Boy's Dorm?" He asked me.

"I was just leaving. Bye!" I said cheerfully.

I ran out of the Dorm and into my own, where Hermione was waiting for me.

"And where have you been?" Hermione asked with a smile on her face.

"I was just…well in the Boy's Dorm. Goodnight, Hermione." I told her.

I got into bed quickly, and then turned over to look at Hermione, since her bed was next to mine.

"Why were you in the Boy's Dorm?" She asked me.

"I had to give Ron something, and then Harry told me that Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets last time, but wouldn't tell me anything else because Neville woke up. Don't tell anyone about this. Please?"

Hermione laughed. "I would never."

I smiled, and the two of us went to sleep.


	13. Coping Without Your Best Friend

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Okay, as you've started to notice, as quirky as she is, Lana is starting to mellow out a little.**

**That trend will continue as she gets older.**

**Just a note.**

**=P**

****

"Are we sure that Hagrid really opened the Chamber?" I asked Harry.

Harry nodded and Ron agreed with him.

"Riddle could've gotten the wrong person." Hermione told them.

"Exactly." I agreed. "It could have been a different monster."

"How many monsters do you think this school can hold?" Ron asked.

"A whole lot of them." I beamed.

Ron smiled at me, and Hermione laughed.

"We always knew that Hagrid was expelled, and the attacks must have stopped after he was expelled, because Tom got his award." Harry told us.

"Riddle _does_ sound like Percy. Who asked him to squeal on Hagrid anyways?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, how rude. God, why did you have to bring up Percy?" I pushed Ron softly, and he smiled at me.

"But the monster _killed_ someone." Hermione protested.

"And Riddle would have had to go back to some Muggle orphanage if they had closed Hogwarts…so I don't blame him." Harry added.

I sighed. "We don't know that Hagrid did it. Just because the attacks stopped when Hagrid left, doesn't mean that Hagrid did it. I mean…the person might have had something to loose if the attacks didn't stop, and just picked on Hagrid and his monster. Maybe Riddle did it…"

Harry shook his head. "He couldn't have."

"Maybe he couldn't have. But hey, if people think that you're the heir of Slytherin because you're a Parselmouth and you're not, then maybe we should find out if Hagrid is before we blame him. Must be a big part of it." I said.

Harry seemed to consider it, and then Hermione asked the question that we were all thinking. She was _very_ hesitant about it too.

"Should we go and _ask_ Hagrid about it?" Hermione asked.

"That would be a cheerful visit. 'Hello, Hagrid. Have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?'" Ron said.

I nodded. "You're right. We shouldn't ask him about it. Unless, there's another attack."

We all agreed, and for the next four months, there were no more attacks, and the mandrakes were almost fully matured. Easter was rapidly approaching, and we all had to pick our schedules for the next year. Hermione found it _extremely_ important.

"I can't believe that the school year is almost over." I said. "And look at all of these classes."

I was looking over the class schedules, and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. There were so many classes to choose from, and so little space.

"This could affect our whole future." Hermione told us.

"I just don't want Potions." Harry said.

"We can't give it up. We have to keep all of our old classes, or I would ditch Defense Against the Dark Arts." Ron told us.

"But that's very important!" Hermione had said.

"Not the way Lockhart teaches it. The only thing I've learned from him is not to set pixies loose." Ron smiled, and I almost laughed, but I couldn't because Hermione was looking at me.

In the end, I had decided on all of the same classes as Hermione, and Harry had decided on the same ones as Ron. I guess Harry and I were thinking similar thoughts: if we sucked at these subjects, we at least had a friend to share the experiences with…even if the experiences were bad.

****

The next Quidditch match was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, and I was not ready for it. I hadn't really been into the practices lately, thinking of the story that we had all come up with. I had even fallen off of my broom once laughing because Fred and George had said, "How is our little innocent Chaser? Have you chosen the palace, castle, hut, or wandering forever yet?"

That Saturday morning, I had been following Harry and Ron around, while Hermione was reading _Ancient Runes Made Easy_, and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Harry and Ron laughed as they looked back.

"Staying there?" Harry asked.

I nodded. "Yepperz. Weird experience last time I was up there."

Ron laughed. "Well, that never stopped you before. Third times a charm."

"It's broad daylight. Not going up there. I'm not supposed to be in the Boy's Dorm." I protested. Well, said.

"Again…never stopped you before." Ron said.

I tossed a book at him, and they laughed and went upstairs. I turned around to Hermione, and walked over and sat next to her. She looked up and smiled.

"So, you Harry and Ron are pretty close now." Hermione told me.

I blushed. "Just as close as we always were."

Hermione smiled. "Yeah. Of course you are. By the way, are you okay? At practice yesterday you fell pretty far off of your broom, and then you just kept laughing."

I laughed again. "Yeah. The story isn't out of circulation yet."

"I see." Hermione said.

We couldn't say anything else, because Harry and Ron came running downstairs.

"Riddle's diary is gone!" Harry said.

"But…only someone from Gryffindor could have done it…" I said slowly.

Ron and Hermione nodded.

"Probably was a boy too." Hermione added.

I shook my head. "Could have been a girl. In fact, it probably was. Never would suspect them would you?"

"Except that you have been up there twice." Ron told me.

"Exactly why." I admitted.

Before I could say anything else, Oliver came downstairs. I blushed immediately, and forgot about the robbing of the diary. I mean come on…it was Oliver.

"Hi, Oliver." I said.

"Hi, Lana. Are you ready for the game?" He asked.

I nodded. "I just need to eat breakfast first."

Harry and Ron were just staring, and I had realized that Fred and George had showed up too. They had sly looks on their faces.

"I see that our Innocent Chaser has chosen." Fred said.

I tossed a book at him too, and then frowned.

"If it's forever going to be a contest, maybe I should just transfigure a pencil into a dagger and end it now…" I said sadly.

They smiled at me, obviously realizing that I was kidding.

"I'll just escort myself down to breakfast, seeing as that if I ask one of you to, I will just hurt the others." I told them.

I started out the door, when Hermione showed up by my side. I smiled at her, and then turned to the others.

"Well, Hermione seems to want to accompany me." I smiled.

"Yes, and I won't attack her with questions about who she's choosing." Hermione added.

We laughed and walked out of the door.

"Hey, we were kidding." George said. "Fred and I would love to accompany you."

I sighed. "Hasn't Valentine's Day come and gone? What's with you guys all of a sudden?"

None of them answered, so Hermione and I got to the Great Hall and sat down at the table. We were eating breakfast when Oliver came and sat next to me. I smiled, and he handed me a box. I beamed and opened it. It was none other than another bracelet. It was as if Draco and Oliver thought alike, except one was in Gryffindor and exceedingly brave, and collected, the other was rash, and not so nice at times…oh, and from Slytherin. I was in over my head. Boys. I should just forget about them…RIGHT! Like I could ever do that!

"It's beautiful, Oliver! Thank you." I hugged him, and then he blushed of all people.

I ate breakfast and listened to Oliver talk about the perfect weather conditions for Quidditch and how he was excited that summer was almost here. I listened intently, and right before Harry, Ron, Hermione and I were getting ready to leave, I saw Draco's face, and he was _very _jealous. Sometimes boys just need to chill.

As we were walking out to the Quidditch field, Harry scared us when he suddenly yelled that he could hear the voice again. Hermione and I suddenly realized something.

"I think I've just understood something. I'll see you guys later! I'm going to the library to check this out!" Hermione said.

Before I could say anything, she ran off, and I turned to Harry and Ron.

"_What_ does she understand?" Harry asked.

"The same thing that I understand now I suppose." I told him.

"But why's she going to the library then?" Harry asked.

"Because it's Hermione. When in doubt, go to the library." Ron replied.

I smiled, but looked at Harry.

"I understand now why you can hear the voice and we can't." I said.

Harry and Ron were about to ask about it, when Ron realized that it was 11, and we had to get to the match. As we were walking out, I ran ahead, knowing Oliver would be furious if we were late to this match. It was for the House Cup.

We made it fine, and were just about to mount our brooms when Professor McGonagall came out with a purple megaphone.

"Today's match has been cancelled." She said.

Oliver was very frustrated, and flew over to her without dismounting his broom.

"But Professor…the Cup…_Gryffindor_." Oliver said.

She ignored him. "All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further instructions!"

Then she lowered the megaphone and beckoned to me, and I ran over to her as fast as I possibly could. Harry and Ron weren't too far behind.

"I think that you should come with me, Langston…" She said.

I was a little nervous about what was going on here.

"Maybe you had better come too." She said to Harry and Ron.

She didn't lead us to anyone's office though, but to the Hospital Wing.

"This may come as a bit of a shock." She told us. "There has been another attack…another _double_ attack."

I hurriedly went inside, and stopped in my tracks. I couldn't move at all. Hermione was lying in the bed next to a girl that I didn't know.

"_Hermione!_" Ron groaned.

Harry and Ron ran over to her side, but I was still not able to move. My best friend was lying in the bed petrified, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I really had to look at all of my information on T.M. Riddle and the Chamber of Secrets. This was the last straw.

"They found her near the library." Professor McGonagall said. "I don't suppose that any of you could explain this…?"

Professor McGonagall held up a small circular mirror, and Harry and Ron shook their heads.

"Miss Langston?" She asked.

I looked up, snapped out of my trance I guess you could call it.

"It has to do with the beast in the Chamber." I said slowly. "But I don't know any more than that."

McGonagall nodded, Harry and Ron seemed to realize I was distraught, and I started to cry. I don't know really what else I could have done. I never should have let her go to the library by herself. But then again, I couldn't help avenge her now if I had gone and ended up with Hermione and the other girl and made it a _triple_ attack, or if I had died.

I walked slowly over to the bed and smiled down at Hermione.

"I'll figure the rest of this out." I whispered.

"I'll escort you three back to the Gryffindor tower. I need to address the students in my case." Professor McGonagall told us.

I tried to smile, but the crying took over again, and Harry and Ron stood on either side of me and wrapped one of their arms around my waist as we walked to the Tower. And as I walked, I reminded myself that I was a pureblood…I could've seen the monster and known more than any written documents could ever tell me. I might have been able to save Hermione. I should have gone with her.

****

"All students are to return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the Dormitories after that time, and a teacher will escort you to each class. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher, and all further Quidditch matches and practices are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities." Professor McGonagall told us. "I don't have to tell you all that I am very distressed. It is highly likely that the school will be closed if the culprit is not caught. I urge anyone who might know anything about it to come forward."

When no one answered, she climbed somewhat awkwardly out of the hole. Lee and George were talking about the attacks and how it had to be a Slytherin behind it all, and Harry seemed rather distressed, but from what I've heard about the Dursleys, I would be distressed too. Then Ron leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear, but I was sitting so close to them that I heard what he had said. They had decided to use Harry's Invisibility Cloak to go and talk to Hagrid. No one was talking to me, because I was very emotionless…emotional…right now. Everyone knew that Hermione and I were best friends.

"Guys, Hagrid is not behind it." I said simply.

They both turned to me.

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"Because he didn't open it before. This time I have proof." I said.

Honestly, I didn't have proof, but I was sure that Hagrid would be proved innocent by my information. I didn't know though. It was on record that Hagrid had done it, but I bet that the information I had would disprove…wait! Hagrid wasn't a pureblood, so he couldn't be the heir of Slytherin!

"Hagrid isn't a pureblood, you guys." I said. "Hagrid is part giant."

"But how do you know that? I still say we ask him." Harry said.

I shrugged. If they weren't going to listen to me, then so be it. I would just have to figure this out without their help. I still suspected Riddle. Stupid sucky name and all. Just kidding. I just think that he had the most motive.

Harry and Ron went to use the cloak, and I just kept sitting there, waiting for someone to talk to me. Try to make me feel better and what not. It didn't take very long. Fred and George showed up and hugged me. I couldn't hug them back, because I had no feeling in my arms yet. Fred kissed my forehead, and so did George, but the opposite side.

I blushed, because people were watching. Then they kissed my cheeks, and just hugged me to them. If there was ever a time that I couldn't breathe, this was it. I smiled slightly.

"There's our girl!" Fred said.

I blushed even more. People were watching them. Us I suppose you could say. Then Oliver showed up behind me and kissed the top of my head. I wanted to stand up and quietly _run_ to the Dorm, but I still couldn't move. The shock of seeing Hermione on that hospital bed was still too much…my legs weren't moving.

"Comfortable?" Lee asked me.

Those were the first words that he had ever said to me, and this was bound to be a weird first impression.

"What can I say? I'm loved." I said slowly.

Just then, Dumbledore came through the portrait.

"Alas, a cornucopia of love." Dumbledore said, looking at me.

He smiled and I stood up quickly, which ended up in Oliver biting my head, well his teeth hitting my head, and Fred and George's heads hit mine.

"Ow!" I said, rubbing my head. "Well the bright side is that I've been scared _out_ of my shock…if that makes any sense."

Dumbledore smiled. "It does."

Then Uncle Albus' face got grave, and he motioned to me to come with him. I followed him out of the Dorm and to his office. Once inside, I stroked Fawkes' feathers, and then turned to Uncle Albus.

"What is it, Uncle Albus?" I asked.

"Well, you and I both know that young Harry and Ron were out in Hagrid's hut even though they weren't supposed to be. Now, I have heard from your mother that you have information about the Chamber of Secrets, which she would not have given you if I had told her otherwise. Now, I need you to figure this out, Lana." He said.

He seemed to be pleading with me. He only did this when things were wrong, that much I remembered.

"But, Uncle Albus, what is going on?" I asked again.

This time I sat down and looked directly at him. He smiled slightly, but he seemed sad.

"I have been suspended." He said simply.

My eyes went wide.

"But Uncle Albus! We need you here in order to do this!" I cried.

He shook his head.

"No, Lana, you don't. You have all of the faith, hope, and courage that you need. Now, since Hermione has been incapacitated I guess you could say…you are in charge of this situation. You are the hope for figuring this out, and I know that you can do this."

I smiled slightly, and got up and hugged my Uncle. It was going to be hard without him, and I wasn't up for it, but I couldn't let him down.

"Thank you Uncle Albus. I'm up to it." I told him.

He smiled. "Your father would be proud."

I nodded. "I suppose he would be."

I left Uncle Albus' office, and cried as I walked to the Gryffindor tower. I couldn't cry in his office, because I knew that it would hurt him, so I had kept my tears to myself. I just couldn't do this anymore. I didn't like being the last hope to figure this all out.

When I got to the tower, Fred, George, Harry, Ron, and Oliver were up waiting for me, and when they saw that I was in tears, Oliver handed me some hot chocolate, and they had me sit in the chair that I had sat in when we made up that story.

"What's wrong, Lana?" They asked me.

I tried to smile but I couldn't.

"It's just that Uncle Albus is leaving. How are we going to get through this without him?" I asked them.

They smiled at me and I actually smiled back. They cared a lot, and it showed.

"Want another installment?" Ron asked.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Of the story." Oliver said.

I smiled and nodded slowly. "Sure. That would be a nice thing to raise my spirits with."

"Okay, but we're backing up a bit. So the Daring Young Keeper sees the dagger in the Innocent Chaser's hands, and takes it from her. He tells her how much he cares, and says that if it will make her happy, she should leave him and go with whomever she loves." Oliver began.

"And the Handsome Onlooker tells the Innocent Chaser that no matter what she chooses to do, he will love her forever." Ron added.

Harry nodded. "The Charismatic Seeker says he loves the Innocent Chaser a lot, and that if he must give her up, he will, just so that she will have whatever she really wants."

"The Triumphant Beaters say along the same thing as the others, and promises that whatever she chooses, they will be behind her one hundred percent." George says.

"Then the Devilishly Handsome Seeker tells the Innocent Chaser that if she chooses him he will give her riches beyond her wildest dreams." Harry adds.

I shook my head. Harry hated Draco enough to make his character _almost_ heartless. I didn't know about that.

"Harry." Oliver said. "Chill."

I smiled. Oliver had used my word.

"So after hearing these things from her men, the Innocent Chaser breaks down crying, knowing deep down that she doesn't deserve any of them, and chooses to remain herself, alone, until she can clear her head and focus on something other than school, and family, and death, and pain, and despair…and she smiles, and hides out by the river." I said.

I opened my mouth to say more, but I couldn't. The story was very sweet and all, but I just needed a hug. I think that they all noticed it, because they all stood up and tried to smother me with hugs. I laughed slightly, and they all decided to go to bed. I walked slowly up to the Dorm, but couldn't go inside, knowing that Hermione was not there. I ended up lying on the couch, but I was cold. Oliver came down and brought me a blanket, and kissed my forehead. I smiled and slept well that night.


	14. Say You've Got Me and I'm Yours

Summer was coming fast. I had been looking over the stuff about the Chamber of Secrets, and I was getting farther than I had before. Harry, Ron and I had tried to visit Hermione multiple times, but Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us in, afraid that someone might try to come back and finish them off. Ever since Dumbledore left, things had been in an uproar, and people had been scared.

Classes were even more boring than normal, seeing as I had been doing homework ahead of time and learning the lessons early, so that I could study the Chamber of Secrets material. Professor McGonagall had been instructed by Uncle Albus to let me do so. Needless to say, all of what I had read so far had been history. I needed to know about the monster inside the Chamber.

I had been so intent on reading that day, that the only thing that pulled me back into the present, was something that Draco had said about his father taking Dumbledore out of power, and he said it in a rude tone.

"Draco, if you really want to go around picking on people's family, then so be it, but two can play at that game. Remember that." I told him.

Draco was surprised that I had raised my voice at him, but I didn't care at that moment, and went back to reading. Then I was disturbed again when Ron started flailing his arms, trying to get at Draco. I just sighed loudly and gave up.

"Will you guys cut it out! I never knew that fear could turn people into such jerks! If you absolutely have to get into a pissing contest then TAKE IT SOMEWHERE ELSE!" I yelled.

Ron stopped struggling and Draco wiped the smirk off of his face. Snape just stared at me in disbelief, and then told us that he needed to escort us to Herbology. I was very happy to go honestly. I was walking very closely behind Snape, eager to get to my next class and resume the reading that I had been doing. Instead, Ernie apologized to Harry, and then Harry, Ron, and I found spiders walking in a trail out to the Forbidden Forest.

"We can't follow them now." Ron said.

"But Ron…we need to do this." Harry told him.

I nodded. "We have to follow the spiders…" I whispered.

Harry and Ron looked at me.

"What?" They asked together.

I smiled. "I know about it. Dumbledore did talk to me, remember?"

After Herbology, Professor Sprout escorted us to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Harry, Ron, and I talked out of earshot.

"We'll have to use the Invisibility Cloak, and take Fang with us." Harry said.

"Aren't there…er…werewolves in the forest?" Ron asked.

I smiled and hugged him. "Come on Ron, there are also centaurs and unicorns. Plus, we're all be together, so what could possibly go wrong?"

Ron smiled, and then we all decided to go into class. Everyone except Lockhart was sad. Lockhart was extremely cheery. He even made Ron mad because he was saying things about Hagrid that weren't true. I really wanted to throw a book at him, but Harry shook his head at me when I gripped the spine of _Gadding with Ghouls_.

I just sighed, and let go of the book, and looked at Hermione's empty seat beside me. I wanted this done tonight, so that Hermione could come back.

****

So that evening at about midnight, I met up with Harry and Ron; wearing the black hat that Harry had given me for Christmas, accompanied with my black outfit. We had to wait until Fred, George, Chelsea and Ginny went to bed though. Fred and George wanted Harry and Ron to play Exploding Snap with them, and Ginny was sitting in the chair that Hermione usually sat in. I sighed…I really missed Hermione.

"So how about another game?" Fred asked Harry and Ron.

Harry and Ron had been purposefully losing to make the games over quicker, but it had worked to no avail.

"Actually, Fred, I'm ready to turn in." Ginny said. "And I can see that George is tired too."

"I'm actually tired too." Chelsea said yawning. "Let's call it a day."

George nodded, and Fred gave in. The four of them went upstairs to go to bed, and then Harry, Ron and I got underneath the Invisibility Cloak, and went out of the tower to Hagrid's hut. When we got there, we grabbed Fang and left the cloak on the table.

"Maybe there will be nothing to follow." Ron said hopefully.

I smiled. Harry lit his wand, and I smiled even brighter, wishing that I had thought of that.

"Good thinking, Harry. I would do that, but I might blow something up." Ron said.

I laughed. "I'll light mine."

We had been walking through the forest for at least half an hour, when Fang suddenly barked, and the three of us jumped. I grabbed their hands, since I was in the middle, and then blushed, and quickly pulled my hands away, and kept walking.

"It sounds like something is moving out there." Harry said slowly.

Ron and I exchanged worried glances.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no." Ron said.

"Shut up or it'll hear you." I told him.

"Hear _me_? Its already heard Fang!" Ron cried.

"I'm sorry. Chill Ron, I'm scared too." I admitted.

We walked on and heard some rumbling instead of silence.

"What do you think it's doing?" Harry asked.

"Getting ready to pounce." Ron said.

"Don't say that!" I told him. "Just stay silent. Maybe it will go away."

We waited for a couple moments, and then a blaze of lights shone us, and Fang yelped and tried to run, but got stuck in thorns and just yelped louder.

"Harry! It's our car!" Ron said.

I dropped to the ground, because I had been scared to death.

"_What?_" Harry asked.

Ron held out his hand to me, and I took it and he helped me up. We walked over to the car, and looked at it after I got Fang out of the thorns.

"It's wild." I said slowly, running my fingers along its paint slowly.

"The forest did that to it." Ron told us. "And we thought it was going to attack us!"

I smiled. "Well at least it was the car and not a monster."

Ron looked at me. "Now why did you have to go and say that?"

"We've lost the trail." Harry told us.

Ron and I looked around.

"Come on. Let's go find them." Harry said.

Ron and I, however, were no longer listening to Harry. We were too busy looking at the giant spiders around us. Then, before we knew what was happening, we were dragged into the heart of the forest. I didn't know how long they dragged us, but there was darkness all around us, and it was quite terrifying. I was afraid that this would be the last time we saw anything.

Then they let us go. Ron's eyes looked they were going to pop out of his head, and Harry looked calm, which I certainly was not. I was terrified. I was closest to Ron, so I grabbed his hand, and leaned against him. I was blushing feverishly as he squeezed my hand and leaned on me as well, but I couldn't let go of him.

The spider that had dragged Harry stopped and looked up.

"Aragog! Aragog!" It called.

Ron and I just stood there, hoping that nothing happened to us. But as we stood there, an even larger spider came out of the darkness and sat on its web, and looked at us, yet his eyes were milky white, and I was sure that he was blind. Ron and I squeezed each other's hand so hard that if we kept it up, our hands would fall off.

"What is it?" Aragog asked.

"Men." The spider that had caught Harry said.

"Um…I'm a woman." I choked out.

That wasn't a good thing, because the spider that had captured me started rubbing her legs together and coming towards me. Ron did something incredibly brave, and stood in front of me. I was still holding his hand, and he wrapped his free arm around me, behind his back. I smiled.

"Please, she meant no harm." Ron said.

His voice was amazingly strong, and it must have worked, because the spider backed off, but then Ron went back to being terrified, but didn't let me go, and I was grateful honestly, because I was scared out of my mind. I mean the spiders were larger than us. Who wouldn't be terrified? Then I thought about Chelsea, who would have had a heart attack if she had seen these spiders. Tiny spiders made her cry out and ask someone to kill it, what would these do to her?

"Is it Hagrid?" Aragog asked.

"Strangers." Clicked the one that had captured Ron.

"Kill them." Aragog said. "I was sleeping."

"We're friends of Hagrid's!" Harry shouted.

Ron and I eased up our grip on each other, and took a careful step towards Harry, until we were right behind him, still holding onto one another, too scared to let go.

"Hagrid has never sent men into our hollow before." Aragog said.

"He's in trouble. That's why we've come." Harry explained.

"In trouble? But why has he sent you?" Aragog asked.

"They think that Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets, and we know that that's not true because all of the facts point away from him." I said.

I was surprised at my own voice, and so was Ron, because his heart sped up a bit, but we stayed in the same position.

"They took him to Azkaban." Harry added.

"But that was years ago. Years and years. I remember it very clearly. That's why they made him leave the school. They believe that _I_ was the monster that lay within the Chamber of Secrets, and that Hagrid had opened it and set me free." Aragog told us.

"But you couldn't have been that monster, because if you had been…Hagrid would have been petrified…same with Riddle. I've heard the story." I said again.

"And you didn't come from the Chamber?" Harry asked him, wanting to know for sure.

"I!" Aragog clicked angrily. "I was not born in the castle! I was born in a land far away, and was given to Hagrid when he was a boy. Then he cared for me and hid me in a cupboard in the castle feeding me table scraps. He was a good friend, and a good man, and when I was discovered and blamed for the death of the girl, he protected me. I have lived here in the forest ever since, and Hagrid visits me. He even found me a wife, Mosag, and our family has grown."

"Sounds like Hagrid." I whispered to Ron, who nodded slowly in agreement.

"So you never…attacked anyone?" Harry asked.

"Never. It would have been an instinct, but out of respect for Hagrid, I never harmed a human being. The girl was found in the bathroom, and I only saw the inside of the cupboard that Hagrid kept me in." Croaked Aragog.

"But do you know what _did_ kill that girl?" Harry asked.

There was angry clicking coming from the spiders, and I felt the grips that Ron and I had started to loose, come back, and I could feel my hand being squeezed again, and I squeezed his tightly as well, and his arm was still wrapped around me, as if protecting me from the giant spiders.

"That thing that lives in the castle is the one thing that we spiders fear above all else. I do remember how I pleaded with Hagrid to let me go when I heard it moving around the castle." Aragog remembered.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"We do not speak of it!" Aragog cried. "We do not name it! I did not even tell Hagrid the name of that beast, and he asked me many times."

Aragog seemed sick of talking, and slowly backed up his web. The other spiders were watching us intently though. I was still very terrified, and didn't know what to do, because the spiders were coming closer, and I wasn't quite sure that they would just _let_ us leave.

"We'll just go then." Harry said.

"Go?" Aragog asked. "I think not…"

"But—but—" Harry began.

"My sons and daughters will not harm Hagrid, on my command, but I cannot deny them fresh meat that wanders so willingly into our midst. Good-bye friends of Hagrid." Aragog said.

Harry turned around and ran, and Ron, still holding my hand tightly, ran as well, pulling me along with him, but I soon caught up and we were running side by side, hand in hand. Just as I thought that it was over, and Harry grabbed his wand and turned around facing the spiders coming after us, Mr. Weasley's car thundered down the slope that we had been dragged along earlier, and knocked several spiders aside and the doors opened for us.

"Get Fang!" Harry shouted.

Ron took a glance at me and I smiled slightly, letting him know that he could let go and I would be fine. He reluctantly let go of my hand, and grabbed Fang around the middle, lifting him into the car. Then we all climbed into the car, me in the middle, and Ron in the drivers seat. Then he grabbed my hand again, and I must admit, that I tried to grab his too. It was comforting, and nice to know that he was there.

Then the car went through the forest as fast as it could, saving us from the spiders that were chasing us. Then after ten rocky and very noisy minutes, we saw the clearing of the trees, and Hagrid's hut, and the car stopped so abruptly that we were almost thrown into the windshield.

Fang was the first to get out, and he ran tail between his legs into the hut, and then Harry got out a couple minutes later. Ron and I sat there. I was trying to catch my breath, astonished that we had even made it out alive. Then Ron started to get out of the car, and I followed right behind him, still holding his hand.

I stroked the car gently, and Harry patted it thankfully.

"Thanks, car. You did a good thing back there. Thank God you saved me. I'm too young to die." I said slowly.

Then the car went back into the forest, and then Harry walked into the hut. I smiled at Ron who was still holding my hand, and he smiled back, but then bent over and threw up in the pumpkin patch. I let go of his hand, and rubbed his back, which is what my mother and father used to do for me when I was sick. Harry came out with the Invisibility Cloak, and I smiled at him, still rubbing Ron's back.

"Follow the spiders." Ron said weakly. "I'll never forgive Hagrid. We're lucky to be alive."

"I bet he thought that Aragog wouldn't hurt any friends of his." I told him.

"That's exactly his problem! He thinks that monsters aren't all bad and look where it's got him! A cell in Azkaban!" Ron said.

"Well…I'm just as bad." I muttered. "I believe in all animals. Aragog was protecting his family."

But neither of them heard me, and Ron was shivering now, and I tugged on the Invisibility Cloak, and put it around Harry, Ron, and I.

"What was the point in sending us in there? What have we found out?" Ron asked.

"We found out that Hagrid never opened the Chamber of Secrets. He was innocent." Harry told him.

The three of us made our way through the corridors, and up to the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room. Then Harry and Ron decided that they were extremely tired and that they wanted to go to bed. Then Harry went up quickly with his cloak, and Ron lagged behind a bit.

"Lana?" He asked.

"Yeah?" I said.

"I'm sorry."

I smiled. "You shouldn't be. I was terrified and you protected me. Why should you be sorry about that?"

"Because I took your hand like that."

I blushed. "Trust me Ron, it was for the best. I owe you a lot of thanks. You stood up to your fears when you thought I was in trouble, and you held my hand when I was terrified, and made me feel safe."

Ron smiled, and I hugged him. Then as we broke apart, I kissed his cheek.

"Thanks for being there, Ron." I told him.

I took his hands in mine, and kissed them.

"You were brave and kind, and I know that when I'm with you, I'm safe. Even if your wand is broken." I said.

Ron laughed, and then I reluctantly let go of his hands and went up to my dorm.

"Lana?" He asked, as I was about to go up the stairs.

"Yes?" I said.

"You're brave yourself. When I need someone, I know that I can go to you because you held my hand too, and I was scared out of my mind. Thank you."

Ron came up to me and kissed my forehead, and then we both went up to our Dorms, and slept, just to wake up and meet in the Common room after about ten minutes.

"The girl who died…it couldn't have been." I said.

"Moaning Myrtle." Harry said.

Ron rubbed his eyes. "Could it be?"

"Aragog said she was found in the bathroom." Harry recalled.

"Maybe she never left…" I said.

"Maybe this just keeps getting weirder." Ron told us.

****

"You could go into the bathroom and asked her about it." Ron suggested as we were being escorted to class one day.

"Right. I'll just waltz in there and say, 'Hi, Myrtle. Oh by the way, how did you die?'" I said.

Harry smiled and Ron just shrugged.

"Sounds fine to me." Ron told me.

I just shook my head. "She's depressed enough as it is without me just walking in and asking her how she died. How would you feel?"

He didn't have time to answer however, because we got to class, and I took my normal seat, by myself because Hermione was still petrified and lying on the bed in the Hospital wing. I still missed her.

Then Professor McGonagall told us that there would still be exams, and I was excited, having remembered what I'd learned this year, yet others were terrified, like Ron, whose wand was definitely _not_ up to the task of finals.

Three days before the exams at breakfast, I was sitting between Ron and Oliver, and across from Harry. Then Professor McGonagall came in and made an announcement.

"I have good news." McGonagall said.

"Dumbledore's back?" I asked hopefully along with several others.

"You've caught the heir of Slytherin?" A Ravenclaw girl asked.

"Quidditch matches are back on!" Oliver roared.

Professor McGonagall ignored him, and I punched him lightly in the left shoulder, the one next to me.

"Professor Sprout has told me that the mandrakes are ready to be cut, and so tonight, we will be able to revive those who have been petrified at last. I need hardly remind you that with them awake, they will be able to tell us who, or what, attacked them. I am hopeful that this dreadful year will end with us catching the culprit." Professor McGonagall said.

"We won't have to ask Myrtle after all!" Ron said happily, turning to me. "Hermione'll probably have all of the answers when they wake her up! Mind you that she'll go crazy when she hears that exams are in three days and she hasn't even studied. It might be kinder to just wake her up after it's all over."

I laughed. Ron was right about one thing; Hermione would freak out when she heard that she had only three days to catch up and master everything that she's missed. I was just glad that tonight I would be able to see her again.

Ginny came over to us, and was looking kind of nervous. She sat down on the left side of Ron, and I smiled at her but she didn't return it.

"What's up?" Ron asked her, pouring himself some more porridge.

Ginny didn't answer, and just scanned up and down the table scared. She was twisting her hands in her lap.

"Spit it out." Ron said, watching her now.

"I've got something to tell you." She said carefully, looking at Ron and I but not Harry.

"What is it?" I asked before Harry could.

"_What?_" Ron asked.

Ginny opened her mouth but no sound came out.

"Is it about the Chamber of Secrets? Something you saw? Someone acting strangely?" Harry asked.

Ginny drew a deep breath and at that precise moment, Percy walked in looking very tired.

"If you're done with breakfast, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm exhausted and hungry. I've just come off of patrol." Percy said.

Ginny looked as if her chair had just been electrified, and jumped off of the bench, and gave Percy a scared fleeted look, and scampered away.

"Percy!" Ron said angrily. "She was about to tell us something important!"

Percy stopped sipping his tea and choked.

"What sort of thing?" He said choking.

"We'd asked her if she'd seen anything odd and she started to say—" I began.

"Oh—that—that's nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets." Percy said quickly.

"How do you know?" Ron asked his eyebrows raised.

"Well, er, if you must know, Ginny, er, walked in on me the other day when I was—well, never mind—the point is, she spotted me doing something, I, um, I asked her not to mention it to anybody. I must say that I expected her to keep her word. It's nothing really, I'd just rather—" Percy explained.

I had never seen Percy so uncomfortable. I felt sorry for him. What was I saying? I loved to see him squirm like this! Where's my popcorn?!?

"What were you doing, Percy?" Ron was grinning now. "Go on, tell us, we won't laugh."

Percy wasn't smiling back at us.

"Pass me those rolls, Harry. I'm starving." Percy said suddenly.


	15. End of a Year, Beginning of a Summer

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

**Okay, so here is the last chapter of Volume Two.**

**Volume Three is where I personally think the writing/story/characters get better.**

**I will wrap up every loose end, I promise.**

**Also, each volume is a different story, okay?**

**So if you want to read more, go find Volume Three.**

**=)**

****

Harry was determined to ask Myrtle anyways, and I had agreed that I would ask since he wasn't going to let it go, but on the way to Professor Binns class, Lockhart was tricked by Harry and Ron, and left us instead of escorting us the rest of the way. Then we ran into McGonagall.

"Langston! Potter! Weasley! What are you doing?" She asked us.

"We were—we were—we were going to go see—" Ron stammered.

"Hermione." I said.

Professor McGonagall, Ron, and Harry all looked at me.

"We haven't seen her in ages, and we were going to sneak into the Hospital Wing just because we wanted to tell her that the mandrakes were almost ready…that everything was going to be okay. I miss her so much." I said sadly.

I thought she might explode, but she spoke in a strange croaky way.

"Of course. Of course, I realize that this has all been hardest on the friends of those who have been…I quite understand. I'll tell Professor Binns where you three are. Tell Madam Pomfrey that I have given you my permission." McGonagall said, and to my surprise, there was a tear in her eye.

We started to walk away, and I could hear Professor McGonagall blow her nose as we turned the corner.

"That was bloody brilliant." Ron told me.

I smiled, but now we had no choice but to go to the Hospital Wing, but I couldn't do it. Ron noticed the look on my face when Madam Pomfrey told us that there was no _point_ in talking to a petrified person, but he smiled at me and took my hand, leading me to the bed. I smiled back and held his hand as we sat next to her bed.

"I wonder if she did see the attacker." Ron said looking at Hermione's face sadly. "Because if he sneaked up on them all, we'll never know."

I nodded, but noticed a piece of paper clutched in Hermione's hand. I let go of Ron's hand, and took it out and read it.

"What is it?" Harry and Ron asked.

I smiled brightly and looked up at them.

"It all makes perfect sense now! The beast in the Chamber is a Basilisk. It's the King of Serpents, which is why Harry can hear it and we can't, because he's a Parseltongue. Its murderous glare instantly kills those who see it, and its fangs are poisonous. Spiders flee before it, which is why the spiders were acting weird and moving in strange patterns, and flees only from the crying of the rooster which is fatal to it, which is why Hagrid's were found strangled." I said.

I handed Harry and Ron the paper.

"But why hasn't anyone died?" Ron asked.

"Because Colin saw it through his camera, Justin saw it through Nearly Headless Nick, but even though Nick got the full blast of it, he can't die _again_, and Hermione and the Ravenclaw girl, Penelope Clearwater Lee said, had the mirror. And you mentioned water when Mrs. Norris was petrified. She had to have seen its reflection." I said happily.

"You know, you and Hermione are just too smart for your own good." Ron smiled.

"Well, I have a little more to say. My mother sent me stuff on the Chamber of Secrets and I've been reading it, but I hadn't gotten to the Basilisk part yet, though I do know a little more about the Chamber itself. It has pipes throughout it which is obvious because of how it's been getting around, but the Basilisk is huge, so the chamber is going to be humongous, like a lower level of the school. And that leads us to Moaning Myrtle. We have to ask her how she died, because if it's using the plumbing, and used the plumbing 50 years ago, then the Chamber has to be in the bathroom! Moaning Myrtle's bathroom!" I told them.

Harry and Ron smiled at me, and to my surprise hugged me as well.

"Plus, the heir of Slytherin is a Parseltongue, which means that certain people that we have been suspecting cannot be the heir." I added.

Ron smiled. "So go on and say I told you so. You were right about Malfoy and about Hagrid."

"I would never." I said.

Ron and Harry smiled.

"Without you and Hermione we'd be lost." Harry said.

I blushed.

"Anything else you want to tell us?" Ron asked.

I nodded. "Yes. If you want to hear me out, I believe that Riddle opened the Chamber 50 years ago."

"But he had Muggle parents." Harry protested.

"I don't care if he was in a Muggle orphanage, because he had the most motive. He was complaining about how he didn't want the school shut down, and then he ratted on Hagrid, who was innocent, and then the killings suddenly stopped. Weird don't you think? Because if Hagrid wasn't the true heir, which we now know, then the true heir stopped because he had the most to lose. Ever thought about that?" I asked.

Harry and Ron shook their heads.

"Lana, why didn't you tell us about all of this?" Ron asked.

"Because I didn't want you two to worry, and the things that I've been reading are long and tedious, and boring, and I've fallen asleep reading them twice, except during class which is why I haven't been getting in trouble for not paying attention." I told them.

"I wish Dumbledore was my uncle." Ron said.

I smiled, and then Harry stood up.

"We have to tell Professor McGonagall all of this." Harry told us.

I nodded, and the three of us ran down to the teacher's lounge, but then we heard McGonagall's voice suddenly magnified.

"_All students please return to their House dormitories at once. All teachers return to the staff room. Immediately please._" She said.

"Not another attack?" Harry asked, looking at us now. "Not now?"

"What will we do?" Ron asked aghast. "Go back to the dormitory?"

I shook my head. "No."

I glanced around and saw an ugly wardrobe with teacher's robes.

"Let's hide in here and hear what they have to say." I suggested.

As we hid, we heard the teachers come in, and McGonagall's voice was sad.

"It's happened. A student has been taken by the creature into the Chamber itself." McGonagall said.

There were various reactions from the teachers and then Snape spoke.

"How can we be sure?" He asked.

"The Heir of Slytherin has left another message beneath the last one. It said, '_Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever_.'" McGonagall told him.

"Who is it?" Madam Hooch asked. "Which student?"

"Ginny Weasley." McGonagall said.

Ron slid down to the floor of the wardrobe, and I sat down too, reached out, and took his hand. I couldn't see his face, but I reached out and stroked his hair. I would have hugged him, but Harry was between us.

"We shall have to send all of the students home tomorrow." Professor McGonagall said. "This is the end of Hogwarts. Dumbledore always said…"

But she didn't get to finish, because Lockhart came in.

"Sorry, dozed off." He said.

"Just the man we were looking for. Your hour has come." Snape told him.

"What?" Lockhart asked.

"Haven't you been saying that you know where the Chamber is and what's inside it?" Professor Sprout asked.

"Well…you may have…misunderstood…" Lockhart said slowly.

"We'll leave it to you then Lockhart." Professor McGonagall said. "Tonight would be a great time to do it. We'll make sure everyone is out of your way so that you can tackle the monster on your own. Free rein at last."

"V-very w-well." Lockhart said. "I'll just—I'll just be in my classroom…getting ready."

I could hear Lockhart leaving the room, and then McGonagall said, "Right" very sarcastically.

"Well that gets him out from under our feet." McGonagall told the other teachers. "Heads of House go and tell the students what has happened, and tell them that Hogwarts Express will be there in the morning for them. Make sure that no students have left their dormitories." She added.

No doubt that she added that because she knew that Harry, Ron and I would have left. So once the teachers left, we hurried to the Commons, and after McGonagall told everyone what had happened, Fred, George, Ron, Harry and I were sitting in a corner of the Common Room.

Well actually, I was sitting between Fred and George at that moment, both of them resting their heads on my shoulders. Percy wasn't there because he had sent an Owl to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and then shut himself up in his Dormitory. Then near sunset, Fred and George got up and went to bed, not able to sit any longer. Ron and Harry took their places, sitting next to me, and I took Ron's hand, knowing that he was sad and terrified.

"She knew something." Ron said. "That's why she was taken. It had nothing to do with whatever stupid thing Percy was talking about. She'd found something out about the Chamber of Secrets. She was a pureblood. There can't be any other reason."

I nodded, knowing that smiling in this situation would be wrong, and I couldn't anyways. I had just spent one of the last hours comforting Chelsea, who had been bawling almost as much as she had when we had heard that our father was dead. Then she had gone up before Fred and George, not able to stand people coming up to her and telling her that they were sorry and that everything was going to be all right. She didn't want me to follow though, so I had stayed in the same spot. I just wished that I could do something. Anything.

"Do you guys think there's any chance at all she's not—you know—" Ron said.

I nodded. "Why would he kill her? I mean he can't without looking at her. And even if the Heir of Slytherin ordered him to…why? It has to be a trap of some kind…she can't be dead…I just won't believe it."

And for the first time, I cried. I was having a horrible time. First my father died, then Hermione is petrified, and then Ginny is kidnapped. I felt Ron wrap his arms around me, and Harry did as well. They kissed my head, and I smiled slightly.

"Goodness gracious, boys." I said softly.

They smiled and then Ron came to a realization.

"If Lockhart's going to go to the Chamber, shouldn't we tell him what we know?" Ron asked.

I stood up slowly.

"Lockhart doesn't know what he's talking about." I told him. "Didn't you hear Professor McGonagall's voice? None of the teachers believe him, which is why they're going along with McGonagall's plan. But, if he is going to try and possibly be valiant, though I think he's running, I'll grab my books on the Chamber that I've been trying to get through, and we'll go. Give me a moment."

I ran up and got my books, and met Harry and Ron by the portrait. When we got to Lockhart's classroom, I was right. The office had been stripped, and he was putting things in suitcases.

"Oh—Miss Langston—Mr. Potter—Mr. Weasley—I'm rather busy at the moment." He said slowly.

"We have information that we think will help you in the Chamber." I said quickly.

"It's not terribly—I mean—oh, all right." He said.

"Are you going somewhere?" Harry asked as he let us into the room.

"Er, well, yes. Urgent business—unavoidable—got to go." He stammered.

"What about my sister?" Ron asked jerkily.

"A horrible tragedy." Lockhart said, avoiding our eyes the whole time. "I'm terribly sorry. No one regrets more than I—"

"You're the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher! You can't leave with all of this Dark stuff going on here!" Harry shouted.

"Well I must say—when I got the job—nothing in the description—I didn't expect—" Lockhart stammered.

"So you're running away?" Harry asked in disbelief. "After what you did in your books?"

"Books can be misleading." Lockhart said delicately.

"You wrote them!" Harry shouted.

"My dear boy." Lockhart was frowning at Harry now. "My books wouldn't have sold nearly as well if people hadn't thought that _I'd_ did them. And those people who did do these things, would just not look good on the cover…I mean, come on—"

"You just took credit from all of those people who worked hard to do what they did! You're a fake!" I cried.

"Lana, Lana, it's not that simple. There was work involved. I had to track these people down and ask them exactly what they did. I had to use a memory charm on them so that they didn't remember that they did it, and then there are all the photos and signings. It's hard work you know." Lockhart said.

"You disgust me." I said simply. "Those people worked hard and all you did was use a memory charm and sit back and bask in a lie."

Lockhart laughed. "You have spunk."

Then he shut and locked his suitcase.

"Yes, that's almost everything. Just one more." Lockhart said.

Lockhart pulled out his wand and pointed it at us.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you guys leave now that you know the truth. I can't let you go blabbing my secret. I'd never sell another book." Lockhart said.

Harry and I reached into our robes and pulled out our wands, but Harry was filled with more rage than I was, and acted first.

"_Expelliarmus!_" He cried.

Lockhart was blasted backward falling over his trunk. His wand went flying, and Ron caught it and threw it out of the open window. Lucky it was open huh?

"What do you want me to do?" Lockhart asked us. "I don't know where the Chamber is. There's nothing I can do."

"Well lucky for you, I know where it is, well the general area, and I know what's in it. You just have to come with us." I told him.

We marched Lockhart out of his office and into Myrtle's bathroom. Harry was the one in control, with the wand pointed at Lockhart the whole time, and Lockhart entered the bathroom first. Myrtle smiled at Harry and stood up.

"Oh Harry, it's you. What do you want this time?" She asked.

"To ask you how you died." Harry told her.

She looked so flattered. Maybe I should have just asked in the first place…silly me.

"I died in this very stall. Well, I had come in this bathroom because Olive Hornby had been teasing me about my glasses, so I had come inside to cry. I locked myself in this stall and cried. But then I heard a noise outside, and a weird language, and I thought it was a _boy_ that had come in. So I was going to go out and tell him to go away. So I unlocked the door and opened it, and then I…_died_." She said.

"How?" Harry asked.

"Well I don't know. I just remember seeing a huge pair of yellow eyes. Then my body seized up and I kind of floated away. But I came back, determined to haunt Olive Hornby you see. Boy was she sorry that she had ever made fun of my glasses." Myrtle said happily.

"Where did you see the eyes?" I asked slowly.

"Somewhere there." She said, pointing to the large sink.

I walked over to it.

"Myrtle, has any of these faucets never worked?" I asked.

She nodded and pointed to the one I was standing next to. I stroked the faucet slightly, and then looked at the silver serpent that was on the neck of it. I beamed.

"Harry, say something in Parseltongue." I said.

"Open up." He said.

Ron shook his head when Harry looked back at him.

"That was English. Try again." Ron told him.

Harry tried again, and this time, the sound that escaped him was a low hiss. Ron and I jumped a bit, but it was awesome. The sink started to open up, and a huge tunnel appeared.

"That Basilisk is huge." I said slowly.

"I'm going in." Harry said simply.

"I'm coming too." Ron agreed.

"And me." I told them.

"Well, you guys don't need me. I'll just leave." Lockhart said, but Harry pointed his wand at him.

"You're going down first." Harry said.

"Now, now, what good will it do?" Lockhart asked.

Harry jabbed him in the back with his wand, and Lockhart put his legs in the tube. Lockhart tried to say something else, but Ron pushed him down, and then Harry slid down after him quickly.

"You don't have to do this." Ron told me.

I smiled. "I can't let you two do this on your own."

Before Ron could protest, I slid down the pipe, and then Ron came quickly behind me. The pipe was nasty and slimy, and very dark. I landed on a damp, stone floor, and stood up quickly and wiped my hands on my robes. This was gross.

"We must be miles under the school." Harry said.

"I'm going to guess under the lake." Ron said, looking up at the walls.

I nodded. "It's nice and slimy and damp."

I pulled out my wand and said, "_Lumos_!"

My wand lit the way, and I stayed away from Lockhart, and close to Ron, and then Ron stepped on a rat's skull and I jumped slightly, but Ron took my hand and we continued along the tunnel. Then Harry lit his wand, and we saw a large curved thing on the floor in front of us.

"Maybe it's sleeping." Ron said.

Very slowly we walked over to the large thing, but it was just the skin of the monster. It might have just been the skin, but it was very long, and thick. This Basilisk _was_ huge. Lockhart dropped to his knees, Ron tried to make him stand up, but he knocked Ron down and grabbed his wand from him. We were the only ones who knew that Ron's wand was not to be used. It was dangerous.

"The adventure ends here boys!" Lockhart said.

"Why does this keep happening? I know it's not the time or the place, but first Aragog and now you. I'm a girl." I told him.

"Well, either way, I'll take a bit of the skin back up to the school and tell them how I was too late to save the girl, and that you three _tragically_ lost your minds at the sight of her mangled body—say good-bye to your memories!" Lockhart said.

He pointed Ron's Spellotaped wand at us and shouted, "_Obliviate!_"

Ron's wand exploded with the force of a small bomb, and Harry was thrown one way, and Ron and I were thrown the other way with Lockhart, and then the rocks came down, and blocked us off from each other. Ron and I stood up and ran to the rock wall, but it was no use. We could not get to Harry this way.

"Lana? Ron? Are you two all right?" Harry called to us through the rock.

"We're fine, Harry!" I called back.

"And Lockhart?" Harry asked.

"The git's not. He got blasted by the wand." Ron said.

Ron kicked Lockhart in the shin, and he said, "Ow!"

"What's now, we can't get through." Ron said. "It'll take ages."

Ron kicked Lockhart again, lightly mind you, and then Harry spoke up.

"You guys just wait there, and I'll go on. If I'm not back in an hour…" Harry paused.

"Don't be silly Harry, you'll be back." I said.

"But if I'm not…" He repeated.

"We'll try and shift some of the rock. So you can get back through when you come back. And, Harry—" Ron said.

"See you two in a bit." Harry told us.

Ron started to shift the rocks, and I helped him. We had been at it for a while, when we had to stop for a break. I saw my books, which had gone flying too, and I picked them up. One was the book on Riddle, and I carelessly opened it, up to the exact page that I needed. After about five minutes, I gasped, and Ron looked up at me.

"What's wrong?" He asked me.

"Harry is about to face Voldemort himself." I said.

Ron shuddered at the name, and then shook his head.

"But he can't." Ron said.

"He can. His name is Tom Marvolo Riddle! Do you know what that turns into?" I asked him.

Ron shook his head. I handed him the book and pointed to the name.

"If you rearrange the letters, it reads, 'I am Lord Voldemort'." I told him. "Harry is about to face him again. Don't you see? Riddle is the direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and he was using his diary to finish what he had started. The only question is how did he get the diary into the hands of someone at school, and how did he come out of the diary, or get a student to do what he wanted them to through it?"

Ron was terrified. We had let Harry go to face Voldemort. We quickly started to move the rocks again, determined to make sure that Harry could get back. Little did we know that while we were moving the rocks, Harry was talking face to face with Tom Riddle, and Ginny was on the verge of death.

But before it was too late, Fawkes came in. He was carrying the Sorting Hat, and I told him that Harry had gone on in, and Fawkes went after him through the hole that we had created. Needless to say, Fawkes was much smaller than Ron or me. We had to rest several times, but then when we were finished moving them, Harry came back with Ginny.

Ron hugged her fiercely, and I smiled and hugged her when Ron was done.

"How'd you get a sword?" Ron asked Harry.

"I'll explain later." Harry said. "Where's Lockhart?"

"He's back in the tunnel. He's lost his memory." Ron replied.

"Well hello. Odd sort of place. You live here?" Lockhart asked when he saw us.

"No." Ron said.

"Now sit down and be quiet please." I said sweetly.

I smiled, and Lockhart did as he was told.

"Now stand on one foot, and rub your belly with one hand, and pat your head with the other." I told Lockhart.

He did as he was told, and I laughed.

"She's loving this." Ron said. "Been using it to her advantage for a while now. He shuts up every time she tells him too. Though I think it's her smile."

I blushed. "I must admit that this is wonderful. You can stop now." I told Lockhart.

I smiled, and he did. He sat back down.

Harry laughed. "Well at least one of us had fun."

I stopped smiling. "I can't believe that you faced Voldemort and beat him once again." I told Harry.

Ron and Ginny shuddered at the mention of his name but Harry was confused.

"How did you know?" He asked.

I showed him the book. "I figured it out. It says here that his name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, and I rearranged the letters. Then I read on and it talked about how he became the Dark Lord. It is actually quite fascinating, but I'm sure that neither my mother nor Dumbledore wanted me to have this. In fact, my mother didn't even send it to me…I wonder who did. But that's not important." I shook my head. "Let's get back to the school."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Ron asked.

I looked at Fawkes, and the others, except Harry.

"But he's just a bird. He can't pull us all the way up there." Ron said.

"He's a Phoenix, Ron." I explained. "He's strong enough, trust me."

As Fawkes flew us up through the tunnel, Lockhart kept saying how he thought it was magic, and then we were back up in Myrtle's bathroom. I was holding Ginny's hand, determined to make sure that she was okay, and Ron was close to us. Then Myrtle told Harry that he could have shared her toilet with her if he had died.

"I think Myrtle _fancies_ you." Ron told him. "You have competition Ginny."

We continued to follow Fawkes into McGonagall's office. Mrs. Weasley rushed to Ginny and hugged her to him, and I took one look at Dumbledore and ran to him, hugging him, not wanting to let go, and he didn't make me.

"You saved her! You saved her! _How_ did you do it?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"I think we'd all like to know that." Professor McGonagall said.

"Well we couldn't have done it without Hermione's note and Lana's brilliance." Harry said.

And then, for nearly a quarter of an hour, Harry spoke about the Basilisk and following the spiders, and about Myrtle's death and the entrance in the bathroom.

"Very well, so you found the entrance, after breaking a hundred school rules into pieces along the way, I might add, but how did you manage to get out alive?" Professor McGonagall asked.

Then Harry spoke for a little bit longer, but didn't mention the diary or Ginny. Dumbledore knew though, and told us that Tom Riddle went through many dark transformations to become the Dark Lord, and that he had used the diary to enchant Ginny. Then Mrs. Weasley asked Ginny why she had written in the diary, and Dumbledore had had Ginny and her mother go up to the Hospital Wing, and Mr. Weasley followed them up, after we were told that Madam Pomfrey was waking up those that were petrified now.

"So Hermione will be all right?" Ron and I asked Dumbledore.

He nodded, and then sent Professor McGonagall out. Surely we weren't going to be punished.

"I remember telling you that if you broke any more rules I would have you expelled." He told us.

I let go of my uncle, and Ron opened his mouth in horror.

"Which goes to show that some of the best of us must eat our words. I think I should give the three of you Awards for Services to the School, and award you with points for Gryffindor. 100 each for Lana and Ron, and 200 for Harry, for actually facing the Dark Lord...again I might add."

We smiled, and then he asked Lockhart why he was being so quiet.

"Actually Uncle Albus, there was an…accident." I said slowly.

"He tried to use a Memory Charm on us, but was using my broken wand, and it back fired, and it erased _his_ memory." Ron said.

"Dear me. Impaled upon your own sword, Gilderoy!" Dumbledore said.

"Sword?" Lockhart said dimly. "Haven't got a sword. That boy has, though." He looked at Harry. "He'll lend you one."

I nodded. "He got it out of the Sorting Hat, didn't he?" I asked Dumbledore.

"Lana, Ron, could you take Professor Lockhart here up to the infirmary? I would like to have a word with Harry." Dumbledore told us.

I nodded. "Sure, Uncle Albus."

Ron and I left McGonagall's office, and led Lockhart up to the infirmary. Then as we were walking down the stairs from it, we walked to the Commons and sat there.

"So that was an adventure." Ron said.

I nodded. "Yes, yes it was. I wonder what Dumbledore's talking to Harry about. Probably his encounter with Riddle in more detail."

"Well, thank you, for everything." Ron said.

I smiled. "Thank _you_ for everything."

I kissed his forehead, and went up to my Dorm to change. The feast tonight would be wonderful.

****

When I came out though, I saw Ron sitting in my chair, and I sat on the couch, reading the book on Tom Riddle that someone had sent me. I was reading intently when Harry came in and stood in front of me.

"Hello, Harry." Ron said happily.

"Hi." I mumbled, still reading.

"I found out who Dobby's master was." Harry said simply.

I closed my book slowly, and looked up at him and smiled.

"Really? And who would that be?" I asked.

"The Malfoys. He serves the Malfoys." Harry said.

"Well that makes sense now!" Ron told him. "How he tried to kill you and all...but he tried to save you…dunno…makes sense is all."

"Yes, but now I know where Lana was last Christmas." Harry told me.

"She was at her aunt's." Ron said.

"Yeah Harry…we've gone through this before…" I began.

"No, she was at the Malfoys." Harry told him.

Ron looked hurt, and so did Harry. They both sat down on either side of me, blocking any means of escape. I sighed.

"Is he right?" Ron asked.

I nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us? What happened to being completely honest?" Harry asked.

"It never came up!" I said, more forcefully than I had hoped. "Yes I went to Draco's house, but only for a week, and then I was with my parents as planned. He gave me a locket that Christmas, and a bracelet this Christmas. I've seen him in the corridors a few times after hours, but really, that's it. We're not a couple or anything. I mean, I'm 12, I'm too young for that, and you two make me feel safe, and I love you guys. You're the best friends that a girl could have. I'm so sorry that I haven't been honest about what happened in the past…but I'm being completely honest with you. Now please, trust me. I will be there for you two through anything, and I will always be on your side, unless I think you're wrong, but I will always go on these little adventures with you two too. I love you too much to let you go get yourselves killed."

They smiled and hugged me, and then we headed to the feast.

****

The feast had been a lot more wonderful then any in the past. We were all in our pajamas, and then Hermione came running in saying, "You solved it! You solved it!"

"We couldn't have done it without you." I told her.

"_We_ couldn't have done it without you two." Ron said, and Harry nodded in agreement.

Hagrid came back, and the 400 points that Harry, Ron and I had gotten for our services had secured the House Cup for the 2nd year in a row, and then Professor McGonagall came and told us all that exams had been cancelled, and this annoyed only Hermione and me. Then Dumbledore announced that Lockhart would no longer be our teacher, as he had to get his memory back.

"Shame, he was starting to grow on me." Ron said helping himself to a jelly doughnut, and I laughed and he smiled warmly at me.

****

The rest of the final term passed by so quickly that it felt that it had just been yesterday that we had found Ginny and Harry had stopped Riddle. Now I was getting ready to go home, and actually, I was ready to go home. I had enough happen to me that I needed to rest at home for a summer.

And then something really funny happened, and Ginny told us about how Penelope Clearwater was Percy's girlfriend, and she had walked in on them kissing in a classroom. Then Fred looked as if his birthday had come early, and George sniggered and promised not to tease him, but we all knew better than that. I had choked on the chocolate frog I was eating, but I quickly recovered.

"Well, I hope you all have a great summer." I told them.

I had hugged them all, including Oliver, and then it had been just Harry, Ron, Hermione, and me, in a compartment on the train. We had neared the station, and Harry turned to us all.

"This is called a telephone number. I told your father how to use the telephone last summer. Ask him. I know Hermione knows how, but Lana, do you know how to use it?" Harry asked me.

I laughed. "That's all we used in the states. I'll call, I promise."

Harry smiled. "Good, because I can't stand another two months with no one to talk to but the Dursleys."

"But won't your aunt and uncle be proud?" Hermione asked. "When they hear what you did this year?"

"Proud, are you crazy? All those times I could've killed myself and I didn't manage it? They'll be furious…" Harry said.

We all got off of the train, and walked through the gateway to the Muggle world. I met up with Scott and Chelsea, and we saw our mother talking to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. We ran to our mother, looking forward to this next summer.

**Note: Volume Three will be up as its own story very soon. =)**


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